With Facebook’s move to block news in Australia causing a spin yesterday, outspoken politician Bob Katter has put forward a solution.
Yesterday Katter proposed we launch “The Ringer” – an Australian-owned social media platform that would take away Facebook’s immense power here in Australia.
“We will launch our own Facebook,” Katter told ABC News.
“Here’s an opportunity to create an Australian Facebook. This should be done immediately.”
Katter likened it to previous industrial developments.
“We should not be held to ransom by a jumped-up, super-rich, American know-all,” he said.
“In Queensland we built and owned the railways, the electricity network and we built the coal industry, the aluminium industry and the tourism industry.
“I’ve been here in federal parliament almost 30 years and as far as I can tell we’ve built nothing. But we have sold off all things that the great governments before us built.”
It’s not the first time a politician has pushed for an Australian-made option to take on the tech giants.
Earlier this month, when it looked as though Google might pull out of Australia, The Greens called for the creation of a publicly-owned and independent search engine for Australia.
“Currently, access to the internet is controlled by a small number of very powerful corporations,” Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“We should not seek out another foreign giant to fill the gap of Google, whether it’s Microsoft or anyone else, as they will still profit off the data of Australians and be beholden to shareholder interests.”
Hanson-Young suggested the search engine would be able to operate similarly to the ABC and could ensure user data was protected.
