Facebook pokes Australian government on same-sex marriage with new tool
Facebook has waded into Australia’s debate on same-sex marriage by coming out in favour of equality.
Australian politics is currently deeply divided on same-sex marriage – as even though a majority of MPs are in favour of equality, Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull refuses to allow a free Parliamentary vote, instead calling for a public ‘plebiscite’ – which could stall weddings until 2018.
The anti-gay marriage lobby has also exploited the planned public vote to call for the suspension of hate crime laws – under the guise of permitting a “balanced” debate.
Social media giant Facebook has taken an unprecedented step of wading directly into the issue, coming out strongly in favour of equality.
While Facebook has previously marked equal marriage victories in the US and Ireland with rainbow profile filters, it today launched a partnership directly with Australian Marriage Equality – which allows people and pages to add equal marriage ribbons to their profile pictures.
Campaign Brief explains of the tool: “For your personal account, visit the Australian Marriage Equality Facebook Page and find the post pinned at the top of the Page that includes the invitation to apply the frame to your profile picture.
“Depending on the device you are using, this may appear as “Try It” or “use Frame” and you will then be prompted to select a profile picture and how long you would like the frame on your picture.”
“If you see a story in News Feed that one of your friends have changed their picture, you can click on it and follow the prompt to “Decorate Your Profile Picture”.
“If you want to add the frame to the profile picture of a Page, make sure that you have chosen to “Use Facebook As Your Page” and find either the Australian Marriage Equality post or your friends’ post to go through the flow to apply it.”
Users can set the profile picture to revert back after an hour, one day, one week or never.
