‘I’m on the side of Google and Facebook’: Tom Elliott defends tech giants

Tom Elliott says Facebook and Google are being unfairly blamed for the parlous state of journalism in the country because they had the innovation to build a better product than local media companies.

The 3AW Drive host said “old media companies” are pressuring the federal government to get more money out of the tech giants because the glory days of journalism in the 80s and 90s have dried up.

It comes as Facebook banned publishers and users in Australia from sharing and viewing news articles on Thursday.

“This idea that Facebook is stealing all this news and using it is utter nonsense,” he said.

“If newspapers put articles out there and don’t require you to pay to look at them, well if it’s free, then it’s free.

“Quite frankly, Facebook is very good at organising the internet for everybody, it allows community groups to have their own little pages, it allows businesses to advertise very cheaply, it allows people to collate and curate the things they find interesting.”

The 3AW host said it’s likely that the decision to deny Facebook users in Australia news from local publishers is a negotiating tactic.

“There’s a very good chance, that as Google has done, Facebook and the federal government and the big media companies will come to some sort of arrangement in the next week or so.”

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