Facebook has begun restricting users in Australia from sharing or viewing news as a way to resist a law pending in the Australian parliament that would require technology companies to pay news publishers when their users post news with their service’s platform.
Facebook’s ban on Australian users sharing news is by far the strongest opposition to the legislation in Australia. Bloomberg Information reports that news publishers have long argued that technology companies such as Facebook and Google should pay for news content that appears on their digital platforms. Because these two tech giants eat up most of the advertising market, they should fairly compensate those who produce news content.
Facebook has decided to stop users from sharing or watching news not only in Australia, but globally, and has also banned users from sharing news from Australian news publishers. Bloomberg stressed that Facebook’s move threatens the widely used access to news and information for many people.
Another major party Google’s approach is different from Facebook’s. The Australian-born media mogul Meadow’s News Corp. said Wednesday that it has reached a three-year agreement with Google, which will pay its newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal.
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