Meta's mobster's bargain - sell us AI or stay blocked
#444: Social's #1 bully has gone live on TV offering a dirty protection racket to reinstate news if they agree to feed its next big bet...
Meta - the social network that banned news coverage during deadly wildfires in Canada - is back at the negotiating table saying it will now pay.
Meta’s policy head Rachel Curran teased she’d “love to bring news back” funding it with some of the US$200 billion in ad revenue it just reported.
“The Canadian government’s very keen on ensuring the news industry and publishers are properly supported, so we’re trying to find the right balance,” she said.
But her offer came with FAANGs: It’ll only pay for the news it wants to train Meta AI.
In return, it wants publishers to help persuade the Canadian government to repeal the law it passed a few years ago requiring Meta and other platforms to pay for content.
“If we could reach a resolution here,” Ms Curran said, “it would enable us to engage in conversations around the kind of support that makes business sense for us.”
She even turned on her Big Tech rivals, arguing that legal requirements banning underage kids on social is down to Apple and Google who run app stores, not Meta.
It comes as Australia’s world-first underage social ban confirmed 4.7 million accounts have been deleted.
Today, I’m breaking down Meta’s news offer, its framing, and sharing a peek into the evolving Big Tech Playbook.
But first, I demolish Ms Curran’s claims about Meta’s safety record, using evidence gathered by 33 US States for a blockbuster upcoming case.
It’s important, because alongside Meta in the dock is Section 230 - the American law that’s given Big Tech legal immunity - and which was passed 30 years ago this week.
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