In a blog post, Facebook wrote that the proposed law “misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers,” and said that it has decided to stop sharing news content in Down Under because of it.
The social media company explained that because of this change in policy, Australian publishers won’t be able to share content on Facebook pages. They will, however, retain access to tools such as “Page Insights” and “Creator Studio” and other standard Facebook services, such as CrowdTangle.
For international publishers, this shift means that their content cannot be viewed or shared on the platform in Australia. It also means that Australian Facebook users cannot view or share news content on the social network (whether it’s from an Australian publisher or an international one), and that international users cannot view or share content from Australian outlets.
Last August, Facebook published a blog post detailing its problems with the law, including that it would have to pay news outlets for the content shared on Facebook.
“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,” the post read.
Both of Facebook’s posts said that news organizations posting on the platform benefitted more from the use than the social media giant did, saying on Wednesday that Facebook created 5.1 billion free referrals to Australian publishers in 2020. In August, the company said that news was “not a significant source of revenue.”
A joint press release from the Treasurer of the Commonwealth Josh Frydenberg and the Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher in December explained that the law would first apply to Facebook and Google, and other platforms could be added later.
As CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan pointed out, Australian outlets such as ABC News (not to be confused with the American Broadcasting Company in the States) already had their posts taken down.
When asked for comment by Newsweek, Facebook deferred to tweets and a blog post by Global News Partnerships VP Campbell Brown.
In the post, Brown explained briefly how Facebook is beneficial to news outlets. “Publishers choose to share their stories on Facebook. From finding new readers to getting new subscribers and driving revenue, news organizations wouldn’t use Facebook if it didn’t help their bottom lines,” she wrote.
Brown also expressed a hope that news would return to the Australian Facebook community. “I hope in the future, we can include news for people in Australia once again. For now, we continue to be focused on bringing Facebook News and other new products to more countries and we have no intention of slowing down,” she said.
On Thursday afternoon, Frydenberg tweeted that he’d spoken to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the legislation.
“He raised a few remaining issues with the Government’s news media bargaining code and we agreed to continue our conversation to try to find a pathway forward,” Frydenberg wrote.
Update 2/17/21 4:10 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include Frydenberg’s tweet.
