The government is showing no let-up in its stance on the Facebook issue, and the prime minister is gaining global support. Facebook has banned the sharing of Australian news on its platform in response to the news media bargaining bill being introduced by the Australian government.
The world is watching the battle between the Australian government and Facebook. Global leaders have responded to Facebook’s sudden ban on Australian news.
The UK has expressed support for Australia, urging Facebook to properly resolve their differences over the proposed news media bargaining bill. The new law would require social media companies to pay for news shared and posted on their platforms.
Julian Knight of the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said Facebook’s move to ban Australian news content was bullying democracy.
“We represent the people, I’m sorry, you can’t run over this arbitrarily …… I think it’s almost as if they’re using Australia to test the power of democracy globally.”
Facebook has also shut down pages for Aboriginal agencies, emergency services, health and charitable organizations. There are concerns that communities will not have access to new crown messages, emergency warnings and other important information.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison believes Australia’s media bargaining bill will set a global precedent.
“People are watching what Australia is doing. I’ve exchanged views with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is interested, and I’ve spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron. We think they should pay the tax, we’ve discussed it many times. There’s a huge global interest in what Australia is doing, which is why I’ve invited Google and Facebook to be active in this before, because they know that other Western countries will follow Australia’s lead. Prime Minister Trudeau has expressed this view and they are already on their way to legislation.”
The bargaining bill has been in the works for three years and is now only one step away according to legislation. Prime Minister Morrison said his position is firm.
“I just want to tell Facebook, this is Australia. If you want to do business here, you have to abide by the rules here. It’s a reasonable proposition and I would have been happy if they had been listened to about the technical aspects, as if we had listened to Google and made a sensible arrangement. But they took down a series of pages and used that as a threat. I know how Australians will react and I don’t think it’s a wise move. They should make adjustments as quickly as possible, come back to the table and work with us to resolve the issue.”
Facebook’s decision to ban Australian news had an immediate impact, with a sharp drop in hits to news pages across Australia.
Preliminary figures show that the number of Australian readers accessing news via Facebook dropped rapidly after 5.30am on Thursday (February 18). The 93 percent drop in traffic during peak hours followed Facebook’s action.
Michael Miller, chairman of News Corp Australia, told the government’s Media Diversity Council that Australians are smart enough to go directly to news sites to get the information they need.
“The decline in referral traffic from Facebook is significant and no longer exists. In the same Time period, traffic to our site has grown by double digits. Australians are smart enough to go straight to the news they want without having to detour to Facebook.”
Recent Comments