I cannot help but be amazed by (what I regard) to be delusional crap coming out of the mouths of politicians from both sides, after Facebook exercised its power and chopped Australia off the map.
Michelle Rowland, the Labor shadow communications minister wondered if ‘it was the beginning of the end of Facebook in Australia. This reflects the mutterings of the Minister, Paul Fletcher, who should know better, and I am sure he does. However, he is gagged by the naive simpletons in the government who simply have no idea of the power of the platforms they have allowed to dominate the landscape.
I well recall the confected emotion generated by the debate about media diversity in the 80’s and 90’s. The claim that our democracy, and perhaps even lives would be threatened by the erosion of a diversity of ownership across what are now legacy mediums, and how the regulations put in place to ensure that diversity would benefit us all.
So much for diversity. Two global multinationals dominate in some areas, while an American media magnate dominates across the legacy mediums, making billions in profits, and crying for help against those who ate his digital breakfast.
The threat by Google to cut off search in this country, now seemingly off the table, is being seen as a win for the government. ‘Google backed down’ is the claim.
No, Google simply took a step back to see what would happen next. The clusterf**k that would have been the landscape of Google cutting Australia off the map is almost unimaginable. Geometrically worse than Facebook taking the same action, as so many businesses use the tools provided by Google to run their internal processes.
We have two lessons coming from this exercise in global power.
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- The shallowness of the strategic thinking going on in Canberra, and to be fair, most other world capitals, and how their power has been knackered by a couple of digital unicorns.
- How absolutely necessary it is for businesses, particularly SME’s who are very vulnerable, to take back control of their own digital lives.
When you need a catalyst for your thinking on these sorts of existential risks, let me know, I can help.
