Amidst A Monetary Dispute, Facebook Bans Australian News

February 18th, 2021 - 3:05 PM EST by Adam Downer

9 comments | Contact Newsroom

zuckerberg australian news

In a stunning flex of power, Facebook has banned the sharing of posts from Australian news outlets and some government services after a dispute over a new law that would require Facebook to pay a fee to host Australian content.

Under a new law proposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, major tech companies from which people get their news would have to pay a fee to Australian publications as compensation for the right to host their content. Google and Facebook have both fought to prevent the law from being implemented, but whereas Google caved and reached a $100 million settlement with Australian news publications to host their content, Facebook has stuck to their guns and banned the posting of Australian media on their platform.

"The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content," said William Easton, managing director of Facebook Australia and New Zealand. He also went on to say the legislation "seeks to penalise Facebook for content it didn’t take or ask for," and that the value exchange between the platform and publishers actually "runs in favour of the publishers."

The effects of the immediate ban were immediately felt by the site's Australian population. Multiple major news outlets were shut out of the platform, as expected, but so were pages such as the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, ACT Government, and the Bureau of Meteorology. These public services had their pages wiped clean and were unable to share new content relevant to Australians.


The New York Times viewed the split between Facebook and Google as indicative of the way both companies view news. Google, it writes, "has long been to organize the world’s information, an ambition that is not achievable without up-to-the-minute news. For Facebook, news is not as central. Instead, the company positions itself as a network of users coming together to share photos, political views, internet memes, videos -- and, on occasion, news articles."

Australian Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has stated that he and Mark Zuckerberg are in discussion to "find a pathway forward."


Top Comments

CatsGoneWildVol4
CatsGoneWildVol4

I hate Facebook with a passion, which is why I don't have a FB account, but in this one situation, I will defend them, because these laws are utterly fucking stupid.

These laws basically say, "We, the Australian government, have picked out two companies by hand, Google and Facebook, and decided that both of them, have to pay money, to provide hyperlinks on their websites to news articles, hosted by a handful of news organisations we have picked by hand, mainly the biggest and most wealthy news organisations in Australia."

Facebook said 'No, we just won't allow links to Australian news websites then.'

Australia: surprise pikachu face

+13
ed
ed

ah yes, link tax, this will work out. yep. totally.

Goddamn, is every government run by brain-dead boomers sustained by oil executives doing dark magic in their basements or some shit?

+10

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