Casey Newton on Facebook and Google vs Australia wrote

It’s worth mentioning that any Australian publisher aggrieved by an unfair exchange of value with Google here could opt out of search results at any time by adding one line of HTML to their website. But almost none of them do because traffic from Google drives significant advertising and subscription revenue to them.

On the news that Facebook blocked all news in Australia after refusing to make a deal, it’s easy to blame the big blue F and move on. Calls for people to delete their accounts once again rung out on, well everywhere. But the fact of the matter is that while there are a huge number of reasons to ditch your account, this issue isn’t one of them.

The banning of news sharing was miss guided and stupid, but this Australian ruling threatens one of the most open principles of the web. The sharing of a hyperlink and it appearing on other websites.

Displaying text, and the huge boxes on Google searches aside. The sharing of links to other peoples content is the back bone of many a website. Where exactly does it end? Do I have to now pay The Verge for writing a link post?

The absurdity of these types of moves that keep big media companies in good stock will now continue around the globe. No doubt Facebook et al will make some stupid responses, but it’s far too easy to blame them for everything when in reality, as pointed out by Casey, this move is exactly the right one for all of us.