Facebook will recover news in Australia after talks with government

Facebook will recover news in Australia after talks with government

by

The announcement covers a month of bitter dispute between the US tech firm and Canberra, which was working on legislation that would force tech platforms to pay news publishers for content.

The agreement “will enable us to support the publishers we choose, including small and local publishers,” Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president for global news partnerships, said in a statement. She added that the company would be covering news on Facebook in Australia in the coming days. ‘

Last week, Facebook (FB) Australians are barred from finding or sharing news about his service. The decision – which appears to be the most restrictive step the company has ever taken against content publishers – has forced the pages of media organizations and even some unrelated essential services to go dark.

According to Australian Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, Facebook has notified the government of its decision.

The announcement also comes as the Australian Senate discusses the latest version of the media law, which was first introduced last summer.

The initial version of the legislation would have made it possible for media separately or collectively with Facebook and Google (GOOGL) and arbitration if the parties are unable to reach an agreement.

The Australian government said on Tuesday it would amend the code to include a provision that “must take into account whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through, among other things, commercial agreements with news media enterprises, “measures.

“The government has made it clear that we will retain the ability to decide whether news will appear on Facebook so that we will not automatically be subject to a forced negotiation,” Brown said. ‘It has always been our intention to support journalism in Australia and around the world, and we will continue to invest in news worldwide and resist the efforts of media conglomerates to promote regulatory frameworks that do not take into account the true exchange of values ​​between publishers and platforms like Facebook. ‘

Meanwhile, Google has already tried to promote the new legislation by announcing partnerships with some of the country’s largest media organizations, including Rupert Murdoch’s. News Corp. (NWS) and Seven West Media.
Asked about Google’s partnerships last week, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg referred to the changes that were finally announced on Tuesday. He said that “if commercial transactions exist, it changes the equation.”

Kerry Flynn contributed to this report.

.Source