Facebook Bans Australians From Sharing, Accessing News Content Over Proposed Media Law; Google Relents

Facebook announced today (Feb 18) that it has banned all Australians and local media companies in Australia from posting, sharing, or interacting with news on its platform, in anticipation of a legislation that the country's parliament is set to pass that will force Facebook and Google to pay for news content.

The ban by Facebook will also prevent international users from accessing Australia-based news outlets via Facebook, while Australians are also banned from accessing international news outlets.

As of Thursday (18 February), the Facebook accounts of Australian publishers ranging from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and some local health authorities have been wiped clean, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a statement, the social media giant said it made the move "with a heavy heart" in response to the federal government's proposed media bargaining laws, which would force technology companies such as Google and Facebook to pay Australian news outlets for their content.

"The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content," Will Easton, Facebook's Australia and New Zealand managing director, said.

"It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia."

The Australian Parliament is currently debating a proposed laws that would make the two platforms strike deals to pay for Australian news. The law also proposed to set up an independent board to arbitrate disputes between the tech companies and news outlets.

The Senate will consider the draft laws after they were passed by the House of Representatives late Wednesday.

The development comes even as search engine giant Google has struck deals with major publishing companies, including News Corp to pay for some of their news content.

The three-year deal also includes the development of a subscription platform, the sharing of ad revenue via Google's ad technology services, the cultivation of audio journalism and meaningful investments in innovative video journalism by YouTube.

Under the three-year deal announced Wednesday, News Corp media brands including The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the New York Post in U.S; The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun in the U.K.; and The Australian, Sky News, news.com.au and other local titles in Australia, will be featured in the Google News Showcase.

The deal came in exchange for avoiding the most stringent parts of a new law in Australia, walking back its own threat from last month to shut down its search engine in the country, reports Washington Post.

Meanwhile Paul Fletcher, the Minister for Communications, said that the social media giant's decision should raise questions about whether Australians could trust what they see on Facebook and vowed to move ahead with legislating the media bargaining code.

"Facebook needs to think very carefully about what this means for its reputation and standing," he said.

"At a time when there are already questions about the credibility of information on Facebook, that is something that they will obviously need to think about."

Earlier Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he had spoken to Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook, about the decision.

"This morning, I had a constructive discussion with Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook," he said on Twitter.

"He raised a few remaining issues with the Government's news media bargaining code and we agreed to continue our conversation to try to find a pathway forward."

Australian emergency services hit by Facebook ban on news

Several Australian emergency services were hit by Facebook's local ban on news content , with pages that warn the public about Covid outbreaks, bushfires and cyclones rendered blank.

Fire, health and meteorological services around the country saw problems with their Facebook pages, amid several serious public emergencies.

(With inputs from IANS)