When the news of the hard clash between Facebook and the Australian government fell in our radar last month, many were taken by surprise. A bill aimed at forcing the popular platform to pay the Australian media for reproducing their content was met with an unprecedented boycott: any news from Australia disappeared from Facebook and Australian media content was not visible to users of the platform anywhere in the world.
That conflict was resolved through compromise, but nevertheless reminded the world that Facebook is not just a tool for social connection; it is in fact a key pillar of the global agenda.
And the role of agenda-setting is never just typical and “innocent”, but absolutely crucial, decisive and essentially political.
So, when we read that Facebook imposed a 30-day ban on posting and commenting on Elena Akrita, we should not be surprised by the news.
We just have to note that, precisely because the experienced journalist is not just another user, but an opinion leader with a clear position in the public debate, Facebook’s move can only be read as political.
Certainly, it is not the first ban on accounts in our country, but it is for the general public the “grand opening” of Facebook as a factor in the Greek political scene. And that is not going to change any time soon.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
