The Solomon Islands are to ban Facebook, once upon a time this might have been viewed as front to freedom of speech, but the tide is turning on how the world view Mark Zuckerberg and his evil empire.
The Solomon Islands doesn’t get into the news that much. There have been ethnic clashes in the country, a bit of civil war, and Australian peacekeepers, but in the last 10 years, or so things have been largely uneventful in this little slice of paradise. Although last year there was some controversy and indeed allegations of bribery when they switched recognition from Taiwan to the PRC, but aside from that not much. And then…
Solomon Islands to ban Facebook
The country announced that it wanted to block the site to end its “abusive language” and “character assignations”. Critics have obviously decreed that it is a government attempt to stifle criticism and opposition. They have also claimed that lumping the country into the non-Facebook club of China, Iran, and North Korea is not all that great. Ironically though foreigners can access Facebook in North Korea, but I digress.
But sticking to that club does not tell the whole story, with other countries such as Vietnam and Pacific Island neighbors Nauru also periodically banning the site.
They probably won’t be the last to ban Facebook
Facebook has frankly become far too powerful and the world is waking up to it. For far too many people what they see, read and hear is decided by a Zuckerberg. And that is not where it ends, Facebook now get to arbitrarily kick whoever they want off of the site, without warning, or recourse for appeal. This is not democratic and it cannot be let fly.
Why should I be worried about getting kicked off of Facebook?
When I saw people I did not like, such as Tommy Robinson get kicked off of Facebook I didn’t care, he was doing hate speech. But, when it comes to freedom of speech, where is the line? Now we may look like hypocrites as potentially you are reading this on Facebook, but Facebook is so big, if you are a business you need Facebook, but they do not need you.
At Weird World Wire we have consistently been threatened with Facebook banning us, something that will probably happen one day. We have friends (who were not doing hate speech) that were kicked off for reasons genuinely unknown. Be it a flaw in their algorithm, or worse over-zealousness, it amounts to the same thing. The biggest internet platform on earth controls what you say and who says it to you. This is scary shit. I’m no illumati nut, but to me this does stink a little bit of control by the man.
Will the market correct this?
We are constantly told that the market runs the world, and if there is a need for competition it will appear, but in the land of internet the global behemoths simply buy out the competition.
But, we live in hope, sooner or later there will be an alternative to the rotten to the core Facebook. And to the Solomon Islands? We say good luck and well done.
