Facebook has been a feature in the news cycle of 2021, perhaps not for the reasons they would have liked. Their first controversy occurred in January when it was announced that privacy settings on the platform would be updated. The announcement caused confusion and led many users to believe that the changes would increase the level of Whats Appp user data that is already shared with Facebook. This resulted in millions of Whats App users moving to other messaging platforms (Hern, 2021). In response, Whats app and Facebook have delayed the roll out of the changes, but other jurisdictions are now closely reviewing the updated privacy policy. This includes the Competition Commission of India (CCI) who recently announced a review to consider whether the platform has breached antitrust laws through the policy changes (Kalra & Phartiyal, 2021).

1. In February, the Australian government moved to pass legislation around payment for access to journalism and news, directly impacting the Facebook and Google business models. Worried by the proposed changes, on 18 February Facebook took the unusual step of barring Australians from accessing news content (Meade et al., 2021; Purtill, 2021). Although the ban was intended to prevent news services and news being shared on the popular platform, important health and safety pages for many groups and vulnerable communities were also impacted. This included sites such as the Bureau of Meteorology and key Aboriginal health and media groups who use Facebook as a key communication tool to connect with community members (Clarke & Story Carter, 2021; Snape, 2021). The bar was lifted after Facebook was able to gain concessions to the legislation around the media bargaining code (Meade et al., 2021).
2. Assignment
3. This assignment is centred on the ethics around power (and the potential misuse of power) of major internet companies and user rights to privacy. In this assignment you will write a 3-part report to analyse and respond to the ethical concerns around the topic (using ethical bounds upon which to evaluate it).
4. To clarify, you are permitted to discuss power of internet companies in general and not bound to only focus on Facebook, i.e., you are free to discuss other big tech such as Google and Apple.

Assignment Components

Response Part 1: Establish the facts

1. Outline a chronological sequence of events of the issue and the actions that occurred after (i.e. as a consequence of the respective events you have outlined). Ensure you gather information from multiple sources (to verify accuracy) and cite them.(300words)

Response Part 2: Player and Team Response (600 words)

1. Clearly state the ethical dilemma
2. Cite at least three (3) sources to build a case:
3. To support the rights of major tech companies to use their power
4. To argue against the rights of major tech companies to use their power.