Thread by @jeffjarvis

As near as I can tell, Facebook's deal means it & Google can avoid the horrible code Australia is passing if they succumb to blackmail beforehand. "We won't kidnap you if you pay our ransom." Good at least that the law is detoured around but it sucks.
cnet.com/news/facebook-…

In Australia, everybody's a loser, except Murdoch, who kidnapped them all. Pols wrote terrible, protectionist law to harm the net. Media soul their souls to the devil, Rupert. Google & FB made payoffs to avoid the law. The public? Nobody gives a shit about them.

Now the question is whether Australia will recognize this as the exercise of monopoly power -- my Murdoch -- and convene @MrKRudd' royal commission to investigate the fear in which he and his mob hold every other institution in the country. Should I hold my breath?

In the U.S., we need journalists to investigate the power, influence, incitement, and lies of Murdoch and his media. I'll say it again: as journalists tell Facebook et al to clean their houses, we must clean ours. Fox et al are not journalism. They are propaganda. We must say so

Remember that Murdoch wanted to BE Zuckerberg. He bought Delphi Internet in '93 (where I briefly worked) & turned it into a multi-million-dollar shit show, then MySpace in '05 & lost a fortune. He retreated behind his presses as a sniper against the internet he could not tame.

Murdoch bought MySpace for $580m in '05. Google agreed to sell $900m in adds on it in '06. In '07 it was valued at $12B. He sold it '11 for a pittance, $35m. He lost to Zuckerberg.
He's a bitter, old man who hates losing. He gets his revenge. Always.

A look at Murdoch's many internet failures before he sold MySpace. He turned Delphi into iGuide w/ MCI, who backed out cuz it was a clusterfuck. Fox Interactive. The Daily, the iPad newspaper. Oh, so many failures. The net killed him. theatlantic.com/technology/arc…

Consider Murdoch's failed online news strategy. @nytimes built a huge audience via the "original sin" of free content & converted 7+million to paid. Murdoch failed at his ad strategy, built a concrete paywall & his Times has 300k digital subs. Loser. thetimes.co.uk/article/times-….