Facebook can prevent news from being shared on its platforms in Australia

Facebook plans to block the sharing of local and international news stories on its platforms as legislation requiring tech platforms to pay publishers for content becomes law, the company said in a blog post on Monday.

“Australia is enacting a new regulation that misunderstands the dynamics of the Internet and is harming the news organizations the government is trying to protect,” said Will Easton, director of Facebook Australia and New Zealand in the blog post. the commission overseeing the trial “ignored important facts,” including the relationship between social media and news media.

“Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia to share local and international news on Facebook and Instagram.” Easton continued. “This is not our first choice – it is our last. But it’s the only way to protect yourself from an outcome that defies logic and hurts the long-lasting vibrancy of the Australian news and media sector, doesn’t help. “

The country’s proposed law on the News Media Bargaining Code, which is currently in draft form, stemmed from a 2019 study found tech giants such as Facebook and Google account for too much of the online advertising revenue of media organizations in Australia. Australia’s treasurer has commissioned the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission develop a voluntary code of conduct which would force the platforms to pay media companies. However, the ACCC told the government it seemed “unlikely” that a voluntary agreement could be reached.

Under the proposed legislation, Google and Facebook should provide publishers who are notified in advance of changes to their algorithms, with penalties for non-compliance. Both companies have strongly withdrawn against this provision. with Facebook say it would bring news organizations in Australia an unfair competitive advantage.

Easton wrote in his post that news represents a fraction of what Facebook users see in their news feeds, and is “not a significant source of income” for the company. In addition to investing ‘millions of dollars’ in Australian news companies, he added,’ we sent 2.3 billion clicks from Facebook’s news feed back to Australian news sites for free in the first five months of 2020 – additional traffic worth an estimated $ 200 million AUD to Australian publishers. “

Earlier this month, Google published an open letter about the proposed law and added a pop-up to its homepage in Australia warning that “the way Aussies use Google is at risk” and that the regulation could harm their search experience. The law, Google argued, “was put in place to give large media companies special treatment and encourage them to make huge and unreasonable demands that jeopardize our free services.”

The ACCC pushed back, in which he said Google’s letter contained “misinformation” and added that “a healthy news media industry is essential to a functioning democracy.”

Media companies in Australia have largely supported the proposed changes. Australian newspapers and media outlets, like their counterparts in other countries, have been badly hit by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, The Guardian has reported. Major Australian media companies have been asking staff for pay cuts in recent months, and several newspapers have been forced to shut down production due to a sharp drop in ad revenue.