The Federal Government says it won’t back down on legislation which could force Facebook to pay for news content shared on the platform, after the social media juggernaut banned Australian users from sharing news links on Thursday morning.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg have made it clear the Morrison government will continue to hold ongoing discussions with Facebook after the tech giant announced it would ban all Australian news content from today.
“There’ll be continuing discussions,” Mr Fletcher told the press this morning but added the government would also continue the process of legislating the news media bargaining code.
“We’ve had discussion with all of the parties, all of the stakeholders, digital platforms, news media businesses, that will continue.”
Mr Fletcher said the “reliability of information on the platform” would be called into question if Facebook were to maintain its current stance and ban all news content for Australian users
“The principle is very clear, Google and Facebook are important parts of the digital eco-system in Australia, they are important parts of the economy," he said.
“We’ve made it clear that we want them to contin
Australia's shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland questions whether Facebook's news ban is the "beginning of the end" for the platform in Australia, as eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant calls Facebook out for not doing enough in areas such as child safety.
In the fight for tech giants to pay for news, Google relented. Facebook didn t
Gerrit De Vynck, The Washington Post
Feb. 17, 2021
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FILE - In this March 11, 2014 file photo, News Corp. Exeuctive Chairman Rupert Murdoch, center, and his sons, Lachlan, left, and James Murdoch attend the 2014 Television Academy Hall of Fame in Beverly Hills.Dan Steinberg/INVL
Facebook on Wednesday blocked people in Australia from posting news stories on its website, a drastic escalation in the battle over whether tech giants should pay publishers when their stories show up in search results or on social media.
Google took the opposite approach. The company struck deals in recent days with Australia s major publishing companies, including on Wednesday with Rupert Murdoch s News Corp, to pay for some of their news content. 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