What a joke!
Facebook users in Australia flocked to parody news content on Thursday after the social media giant blocked legitimate news from its platform.
The top 10 best-performing posts by Australian Facebook pages on Thursday were almost all from satirical sites, according to data from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned social media insight tool.
The list – first shared by Twitter account @ FacebookTop10AU – most contained posts from Australian comedy channels The Chaser and Betoota Advocate.
Fifth was a post from Ozzy Man Reviews, the home page of popular Australian YouTuber Ethan Marrell.
All three comedy pages have already appeared in the daily rankings of Facebook posts that have accumulated the most interactions, as tracked by Facebook accountTop10AU from Guardian Australia employee Dave Earley.
However, it does not appear that the main posts came from comedy pages only.
For example, on Wednesday, Ozzy Man Reviews had post # 1, but was followed by 7 News Brisbane, 7News Australia and ABC News.
The marked change was probably caused by Facebook’s shocking move to prevent Australians from viewing and sharing news on the platform because of proposed laws in the country to make digital giants pay for journalism.
Users below can no longer share Australian or international news, and international users outside Australia cannot share Australian news either.
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