Zuckerberg abandons fact checking on Facebook's US platform, with cessation of fact-checking on its Australian platform expected to follow in the near future

 

ECHO, 8 January 2024:

Coinciding with the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has announced it’s abandoning the independent fact-checking processes set up in 2016 in favour of a ‘community notes’ program, as used on Elon Musk’s X platform, where the community decides which posts are misleading or need more context.

Meta’s press release quotes a 2019 speech by its CEO Mark Zuckerberg in which he argued that free expression has been the driving force behind progress in American society and around the world, and that inhibiting speech, however well-intentioned the reasons for doing so, reinforces existing institutions and power structures instead of empowering people.

‘Some people believe giving more people a voice is driving division rather than bringing us together, said Mr Zuckerberg.

‘More people across the spectrum believe that achieving the political outcomes they think matter is more important than every person having a voice. I think that’s dangerous.’

How did that work out?

In practice, Meta’s policies and role in fuelling misinformation led to the earlier election of Donald Trump in the USA, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and the success of Brexit in the UK.

As Meta sought to rebuild its credentials as a good corporate citizen following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook data was manipulated and exploited for political purposes in the UK and elsewhere (without the permission of users), independent fact checking was one of Meta’s responses.....

The statement goes on to say, ‘We want to undo the mission creep that has made our rules too restrictive and too prone to over-enforcement. We’re getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate....

Anything to avoid another Donald meltdown? Cloudcatcher Media.

Trumped

Meta’s latest press release doesn’t mention Donald Trump anywhere, but his influence is clearly apparent on the new direction of the company.

After clashing with Mr Trump earlier, Mark Zuckerberg has grown increasingly close to the incoming president in recent years, along with his fellow billionaires, notably Jeff Bezos, with significant implications for global media and information and eco-systems.

Donald Trump praised Meta’s latest announcement. ‘I think they’ve come a long way,’ he told a press conference yesterday. When a journalist asked the President-elect if he thought Zuckerberg was responding to threats he had made in the past, Trump responded with one word: ‘Probably’.

While the changes at Meta will only affect the United States initially, they are expected to be rolled out globally in the near future, including Australia.

Read the full article at

https://www.echo.net.au/2025/01/meta-abandons-independent-fact-checking/.

The question that immediately springs to mind - 'Will Zuckerberg remove the fact-checking function from the Australian version of Facebook ahead of the 2025 federal general election?'.

Due to the 2024 electoral redistribution, more than half of the 150 federal electorates will be going to the polls with altered electorate boundaries and, it is not hard to imagine that all political parties as well as third party lobbyists will begin campaigning vigorously in those seats in particular when the timing of this year's election is announced.

CNN Business, 8 January 2025:

New York CNN

Meta’s surprise decision to scrap its fact-checking partnerships – blindsiding journalists involved in the program and putting some out of work – is part of a much bigger shift in media and politics.

The very notion of fact-checking is under assault by a wide array of fact-challenged politicians and interest groups. Particularly on the right, “fact-check” has been turned into a dirty word, one that presupposes the fact-checker is actually suppressing some inconvenient truth.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg played right into that assumption on Tuesday when he insulted fact-checkers as “too politically biased” and said they “have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the U.S.”

Destroyed trust among whom, exactly? Zuckerberg didn’t say. But President-elect Donald Trump, who keeps fact-checkers busy and hates being corrected by them, welcomed Meta’s changes. So did the wide world of pro-Trump media. “Trump gets results,” Fox’s Laura Ingraham said Tuesday night, touting Meta’s “major shakeup.”

As CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan found through his interviews with Trump rallygoers, MAGA loyalists bristled at the existence of fact-checks on Facebook and objected to content moderation that they described as censorship. They trusted Trump over any attempt to fact-check him.

But for a wider audience, Meta’s support for outside fact-checking outlets helped make the internet a little bit less polluted by lies and propaganda.....

“Without fact checking on Meta, disinfo spreaders will be partying like it’s 2016,” said Duke [former CNN journalist Alan Duke, Lead Stories] .....

The NSW Minns Government gave big property developers & land speculators an incredible Christmas present on 20 December 2024 which they get to unwrap today, 8 January 2025

 

Both Houses of the NSW Parliament effectively went into end of year recess on 22 November 2024, with only five days of supplementary budget estimates hearings remaining between 2 to 6 December 2025 before the chamber doors closed until 11 February 2025 when both Houses begin the 2025 parliamentary calendar year.

The NSW Minns Labor Government waited until Friday 20 December 2024 to announce on its Inside State Government website that it had formally established the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA).

The three-person HDA decision makers were revealed to be senior public servants the Secretary of the Premier’s Department Simon Draper, the Secretary of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Kiersten Fishburn and the Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure NSW, Tom Gellibrand. Although the HDA is nominally responsible to the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, these decision makers have been handed what appears to be almost unfettered power to accede to property developers' board and shareholder desire for corporate & personal enrichment commencing from today, Thursday 8 January 2025, when developers can begin to submit Expression of Interest to the HDA for major housing developments above approximately $60 million in Greater Sydney and $30 million in regional NSW.

The HDA intends to meet monthly to consider proposals against the EOI criteria and make recommendations to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces on whether to declare these proposals as State Significant Development.

The HDA has been created to give property developers a way to bypass local government councils & regional planning panels, as is clearly stated in the state government's media release:

Proponents can still choose to follow the existing regionally significant development pathway assessed by councils and determined by planning panels, but the establishment of the HDA and the new SSD pathway will give them another option for major residential developments.

On 20 December the Dept. of Planning also published the Housing Delivery Authority SSD criteria, which stated in part that the HDA will apply flexibility in their evaluation of proposals against the criteria with preference being given to projects which meet the criteria and could commence construction quickly.

What could possibly go wrong?

Local Government NSW (LGNSW), media release, 20 December 2024:

New year, new rules: government sides with developers over local voices

Today's confirmation of eligibility criteria for the State Government’s new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) has generously presented developers with the freedom to exceed development standards by up to 20 per cent, giving greater opportunities for profit-driven land banking, and no mandated requirement to meaningfully provide affordable housing. [my yellow highlighting]

Local Government NSW (LGNSW) – the peak body for NSW councils – says the HDA will further weaken the role of community-led strategic planning while doing nothing to address real barriers to housing delivery such as land banking, skills and labour shortages and soaring costs of materials and labour.

LGNSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM said today's announcement would be viewed by developers as an early Christmas present.

“Far from the season of giving, these planning changes will leave local communities empty-handed while big developers celebrate,” Cr Turley said.

“Until now, details of the HDA have been limited, but the NSW Government has confirmed today that it's basically handing the keys to planning rules over to developers, while local communities will be sidelined in decisions about what happens in their towns and suburbs.

“The new three-person HDA will be receiving EOIs from large developers and recommending these bypass councils and instead progress through state assessment and Ministerial determination."

Cr Turley said that while councils across the state supported efforts to accelerate housing delivery, they opposed the move to establish this new planning body and state-assessed planning pathway.

“This is not only because of the concern about bypassing local councils, but fundamentally, but also because it opens the planning system to more ad hoc proposals, disregarding local strategic plans and risks adding more uncertainty to the planning system,” Cr Turley said.

“The NSW Government is continually shifting the planning goalposts for communities and developers. Developers now know that if they continue to delay construction on already approved sites, they only have to wait for the next rule change when they’ll be able to generate even greater profits.

“Councils acknowledge the need for new and more diverse housing in well-located areas across NSW, but maintaining strategic, evidence-based planning and doing this in a collaborative way, is critical.

“Unfortunately for the NSW community, there is no requirement that developers who receive approval under this pathway must actually deliver the promised dwellings – just that they must demonstrate a capability to do so.

“There is nothing in the planning system to compel them to build. This toothless aspiration opens the planning system to more land banking by developers in search of even greater profits.

“And despite this new planning pathway allowing proposals to exceed development standards by up to 20 per cent there is no clear mandate for a meaningful contribution to affordable housing, nor that any affordable housing will remain in perpetuity.

“Rather than the vague requirement for a ‘positive commitment to affordable housing’, the requirements should clearly mandate what is required at the outset, to allow developers to factor this into their EOI for this pathway."

Cr Turley called for Minister Scully to consider targeted collaboration, rather than blanket policy that bypasses councils.

“When first announced last month, councils resolved to condemn this new spot-rezoning and State approval pathway, which will deliver windfall gains for developers while removing safeguards that protect communities from inappropriate overdevelopment,” Cr Turley said.

“Rather than layering another blanket, statewide policy on the planning system, efforts to improve approval pathways for housing would be more effective if they focused attention and support where it is needed to overcome specific issues and to reach jointly agreed planning outcomes with councils for their communities.

“Any accelerated process must not compromise infrastructure provision, build quality, environmental considerations, public safety, liveability and other planning outcomes.”

NOTE

LGNSW, media release, 23 December 2924, excerpt:

Cr Turley is an elected member of Broken Hill City Council which, at its November meeting, resolved to resign from LGNSW – the peak body for local government across the state.

Despite being democratically elected by members as President in December 2021 and again in November 2023, Cr Turley is no longer eligible to hold office as her council no longer forms part of the membership of the peak body.

In accordance with the Rules for LGNSW, the remaining 11 months of her term will now be served by the current Vice-President (Rural/Regional) , who is Mayor Phyllis Miller from Forbes Shire Council. Mayor Miller will serve until the next scheduled general election due to take place at the LGNSW Annual Conference in November 2025.

Around 180 shark species occur in Australian waters, of which about 70 are thought to be endemic. Yet despite four of these shark species known to be dangerous to humans, relatively few people die from shark attack

 

Worldwide, there are about 400 species of sharks. Of these, around 180 species occur in Australian waters, of which about 70 are thought to be endemic. Sharks occur in all habitats around the Australian coast line, however most are found on the continental slope or shelf, primarily on the bottom. However, many sharks are also found in coastal waters and a small number are even found in freshwater systems, such as rivers and estuaries....

Several species of shark are known to be dangerous to humans: the white shark, tiger shark, bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) and other whaler sharks (Carcharhinus sp.). No shark is thought to target humans as prey, rather the majority of shark attacks can be attributed to the shark confusing us with its normal prey.

[Australian Dept. of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water]

Five shark species found in Australia are now considered either Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered, due to declining numbers - the Grey Nurse, Whale, White, Northern River and Speartooth sharks. These sharks are protected species under the C'wealth EPBC Act, along with the migratory shark species - the long and short fin Mako shark and the Porbeagle shark which are specifically prohibited from being fished commercially in Australian waters.

As the sad news of a surfer taken by what is thought to be a white shark, while riding the big waves on a remote part of the Australian coastline is filling print and online media column inches at the moment, like night follows day there will be some discussion of shark numbers, the safety or otherwise of ocean waters and possible methods of reducing those numbers.

So here is some basic information. Taken from the Australian Shark-Incident Database (ASID) - which contains collected and collated historical & current records of human and shark encounters - and read alongside Australia's population growth over the last 223 years for additional context.

Australia's resident population in the 108 years between between 1791 and 1899 rose from an estimate in excess of 303,194 to 950,000 individuals to an estimated 4 million by 1899. The exact numbers are unknown as, although colonial authorities kept muster books for convicts, guards and free persons, First Nations peoples were rarely recorded accurately if or when they were recorded at all for the next 180 years.

In that first listed 108 year period there were 123 recorded adverse human encounters with sharks in Australian waters - 44 of these encounters resulted in the death of a person and 79 resulted in no injury or an injury, usually described as minor or major lacerations sometimes accompanied by teeth marks.

The majority of the these 123 adverse human encounters with sharks are recorded as involving unprovoked shark attacks, however a total of 23 of these attacks are recorded as provoked by the human victim and frequently described as "enticing the shark" or "intentionally" coming into close physical contact with the shark.

Bottom line: 0.0011% of the then total national population died by shark attack.

Between 1900 and 1999 the Australian population grew by millions to reach est. 18.81 million men, women and children.

During this period there were 609 recorded adverse human and shark encounters - 159 of these encounters resulted in the death of a person and 450 resulted in no injury or an injury, usually described as minor or major lacerations sometimes accompanied by teeth marks.

Again the majority of the 609 adverse human encounters with sharks are recorded as involving unprovoked shark attacks, however over 200 of these attacks are recorded as provoked by the human victim and frequently described as either "enticing the shark", "intentionally" coming into close physical contact with the shark, in "physical contact" or during "capture of the shark".

Bottom line: 0.0008% of the then total national population died by shark attack.

Over the next 25 years between 2000 and 2024 the Australian population had reached 27,204,809 men, women and children - and with est. 85 per cent of this population living in coastal regions, whether strong swimmers, weak swimmers or non-swimmers, 50 per cent will frequent ocean, coastal river or estuary waters and enter the water a combined total of up to 11.7 million times in a year [Surf Lifesaving Australia, National Coastal Safety Report 2024].

During this 25 year period there were 501 recorded adverse human and shark encounters - 52 of these encounters resulted in the death of a person and 449 resulted in no injury or an injury, usually described as minor or major lacerations sometimes accompanied by teeth marks.

Again the majority of the 501 adverse human encounters with sharks are recorded as involving unprovoked shark attacks, however over 100 of these attacks are recorded as provoked by the human victim and frequently described as either "enticing the shark", "intentionally" coming into close physical contact with the shark, in "physical contact" or in the case of one unlucky board rider "jumped on shark" by mistake and was bitten. There appears to be some connection between provoked shark attacks and the recreational activities of fishing, diving, scuba diving and spear fishing.

Bottom line: 0.0001% of the current total national population died by shark attack.

BACKGROUND

The Australian Shark-Incident Database (ASID), formerly known as the Australian Shark Attack File (ASAF), quantifies temporal and spatial patterns of shark-human interactions in Australia.

The Australian Shark-Incident Database is a joint partnership with Taronga Conservation Society Australia, along with Flinders University, and the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.

Maintained as an uninterrupted record by a few committed Taronga team members since 1984, the File currently comprises > 1000 individual investigations from 1791 to today, making it the most comprehensive database of its kind available.

"...there’s something special about Yamba"

 

It is said that during the Christmas holiday period the little New South Wales coastal town of Yamba (2023 est. resident population 6,467) easily doubles its population and this year, 2024, appeared to be no different.

December visitor numbers are still manageable, but thankfully for the rest of summer and other holiday periods thoughout the year visitor numbers are a little lower.

Something I suspect one Time Out magazine editor discovered when she visited.

Clarence Valley Independent, 18 December 2024:

Yamba has been named one of the 10 best Australian destinations” Time Out magazine’s editors travelled to in 2024. Image: Rodney Stevens

The accolades keep coming for the paradise we know is Yamba – much to the dismay of some long-term locals – after the town was announced in “The 10 best Australian destinations” Time Out magazine’s editors travelled in 2024.

This is the most recent recognition in a growing list of acknowledgements for Yamba, following the September 2024 announcement Yamba was the fifth most searched hidden gem in Australia in a study by worldwide luggage storage app Bounce.

In 2009, Yamba was named Best Town in Australia by a panel of tourism and travel experts in a survey conducted by Australian Traveller magazine.

And in the 2023 NSW Top Town awards, Yamba was a finalist in the Top Tourism Town greater than 5000 residents’ category.

While some locals dislike the idea of promoting Yamba as beautiful destination we know and love, the economy and businesses of the town, and to a degree, the entire Clarence Valley is reliant on tourism.

Time Out’s Sydney Lifestyle writer, Winnie Stubbs visited Yamba and fell in love with the town, penning this review.

“The NSW coast has no shortage of magical beach towns, but there’s something special about Yamba,” Stubbs wrote.

“Sitting with an unpretentious air on the southern edge of the Northern Rivers, the laid-back beach town is home to just the right amount of everything.

“There are surfing spots for every ability, hidden coves and rockpools for dreamy summer days, a charming old-school cinema for rainy evenings, and a delightfully unintimidating range of must-try eateries and drinking spots.

“A pod of dolphins has made its home below the southern headland, punctuating the sparkling coastline beyond the ocean pool on quiet, sunny mornings, and during whale watching season you’ll see migrating humpbacks stopping to scratch off their barnacles at a rocky outcrop beyond the beaches.

“Now home to two super-luxe hotels, Yamba is on the up – get there before the crowds do.”

During the 2024 12-day festive holiday period in the Northern Regional Area of NSW there were 226 reported major crashes, 4 fatal crashes resulting in 4 deaths and 104 people were injured on northern roads

 

For the purposes of compiling regional crime statistics NSW Police report results according to three area groups, Northern Region, Southern Region & Western Region.

The Northern Region runs from the Central Coast up to the NSW-Qld border and inland as far as the Moree Plains, Narrabri District & Liverpool Plains.

Over the festive holiday period NSW Police conducted Operation Christmas/New Year 2024 which commenced at 12.01am Friday (20 December 2024) and concluded at 11.59pm yesterday (Wednesday 1 January 2025).

During that 12-day period state police on duty in the Northern Region recorded the following:

Restraint Infringements – 89

Mobile phone infringements – 117

Speed infringements – 2,527

Breath Tests – 66,421

PCA charges – 203

Drug-driving detections – 367

Fatal Crashes – 4

Lives Lost – 4

Reported major crashes – 226

People injured – 104

One of the incidents included in the 2,527 speeding infringements recorded and mentioned in Operation Christmas/New Year 2024 media release was:

About 5pm Monday 30 December 2024, officers attached to Brisbane Water Traffic and Highway Patrol were patrolling Peats Ridge Road, Somersby, when they detected a motorcycle allegedly speeding. Police followed the motorcyclist which they allege was being ridden at 177km/h in a 110km/h zone. After a short time, the rider - an off-duty police officer attached to Northern Region - stopped in Tuggerah and police issued him a traffic infringement notice for exceed speed over 45km/h. The man’s licence was also suspended. An internal review will be conducted.

Sadly during this 12-day period 12 people died on New South Wales roads - four more than during the same police operation last year.

Tweet of the Week

 

This pic.twitter.com/TGurdDCg7P

— melissa (@ArtistAffame) December 24, 2024

 

Cartoons of the Week

Matt Golding
2024 in a nutshell

Cathy Wilcox
My Christmas Carol

Megan Herbert