Facebook Blocks News in Austrailia

[InbetweenDreams]

Do people actually use FB still? I haven't used it in years.

Just stop using FB. I have and I feel better for it.

Vote with your feet???

Yes, people are addicted to the drug that Facebook is. I don't "like" Facebook but there are some groups that can be useful but there is always an abundance of dumb people on the larger groups so it quickly becomes a drag. I started a Spiritual/Pagan group for people that are near me but it is difficult to get people to engage in anything more than sharing some meme that's been around in other groups and not what I was hoping or intending. Since, Facebook has basically taken over, it is difficult to find an active forum in other topics....take Pagan forums for instance, sure there are people there but it is difficult to find good conversation since the many of the forums aren't all that active.

Anyway, I agree, if I could somehow quit Facebook for good, I would probably be happier not spending ample time scrolling through a bunch of bullshit I don't like.

I enjoy using Facebook, but I don't use it for a news source.  Given the misinformation we've seen in spread in recent years, I would never rely on it for true news.

I don't think anyone intends to use Facebook as a news source but since news publishers post their stories on Facebook, Facebook distributes it to everyone's "news" feed and people often find out something there. However, I completely agree, Facebook is not the place to get the news. There are so many pages setup that share nothing but "knee-jerk" political/news memes that barely qualify as a half truth and we saw that over the last 4 years and really much longer than that. Facebook, rather than try to quell all the fighting, trolling, bullying and the spread of false information they very much fanned the flames simply because it keeps people engaged on their platform.

So yeah, Facebook is terrible. I would much prefer the "old" internet when people could join communities, such as this, that were active with people and good content.