Facebook Threatens Ban on Australians Sharing News Posts

Facebook warned on Tuesday that consumers and media companies in Australia will be prohibited from posting news stories if the government were to require internet giants to pay for content, reports BSS.

Australians will be prohibited from sharing both local and international news stories on Facebook and Instagram, the firm said, saying that the move was "not our first option" but the "only way to defend against a logic-challenged result."

In one of the most aggressive moves by any country to curtail the influence of US digital giants, the Australian government has enacted legislation to force Facebook and Google to pay money to fail local news organizations or face millions of dollars in penalties.

Measures will also force transparency around the tightly held algorithms used by tech giants to rate content.

Facebook Australia and New Zealand managing director Will Easton said the proposed overhaul “misunderstands the dynamics of the internet and will do damage to the very news organisations the government is trying to protect”.

“Most perplexing, it would force Facebook to pay news organisations for content that the publishers voluntarily place on our platforms and at a price that ignores the financial value we bring publishers,” he said in a statement.

He also accused the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which is drafting the regulations, of having “ignored important facts” during a consultation process that ended Monday.

The ACCC presumes that Facebook benefits most in its relationship with publishers, when in fact the reverse is true,” he said.

“News represents a fraction of what people see in their News Feed and is not a significant source of revenue for us.”

Easton said Facebook sent 2.3 billion clicks to Australian news websites in the first five months of 2020 with an expected amount of $200 million (USD 148 million) and was planning to introduce Facebook News to Australia — a function unveiled in the US last year where the tech giant pays news publishers.

“Instead, we are left with a choice of either removing news entirely or accepting a system that lets publishers charge us for as much content as they want at a price with no clear limits,” he added.

“Unfortunately, no business can operate that way.”

Google has also aggressively campaigned against the proposed changes, created pop-ups on the search engine warning that the way Aussies use Google is at risk and urged YouTubers around the world to complain to the Australian authorities.

The legislation will initially focus on Facebook and Google — two of the richest and most powerful companies in the world — but could eventually apply to any digital platform.

It has strong support from local media outlets and is expected to be launched this year.