The social media giant had blocked news for Australians since last Thursday in response to a bill that would make Facebook and Google pay news publishers for content. Australian Finance Minister Josh Frydenberg said in a statement Tuesday that news pages on Facebook would be restored in the next few days. He also indicated that amendments would be made to the law facebook is friends with Australia again Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. The government has said that its legislation aims to establish a negotiation process fairer among the tech giants l or s means the value of the content.
The government has been debating the legislation seen as a possible test for global regulation in the Senate after it passed in the lower house last week. Why did Facebook block news content? Since last Thursday, Australians could not access or share any news on their accounts. Facebook argued that it had been forced to block Australian news in response to the proposed legislation, which involved paying for sharing and posting news links on the social network. The rule has been strongly rejected by Facebook and Google.
Both argue that the standard does not understand how the Internet works. Facebook has also said it makes little commercial profit from news content. But the Australian government says the law is necessary to “level the playing field” for news publishers, who have seen their profits plummet in the internet age. Why did Facebook change its position? Facebook said on Tuesday it had calmed down after recent talks with the government. Going forward, the government has clarified that we will retain the ability to decide whether news appears on Facebook so that we are not automatically subjected to forced negotiation,” said Campbell Brown, vice president of news associations at Facebook.
We have reached an agreement that will allow us to support publishers of our choice, including small and local publishers, he added. The technology company had argued that the law fundamentally misinterpreted how it used the news on its page. Google had also threatened to pull its main Australian search engine, but the company recently struck deals with local media companies, including Rupert Murdoch’s Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media, and News Corporation. What does the government say now? The government said it had encouraged Facebook to negotiate in good faith with local media companies, citing recent Google deals as an example. Frydenberg again criticized Facebook’s news ban last week, saying it was a regrettable action that had occurred without warning.
