Facebook threatened to block users and media organizations in Australia from sharing news
Sydney:
Facebook threatened on Tuesday to block users and media organizations in Australia from sharing news in a growing challenge to government plans to force digital giants to pay for content.
Australians would be barred from posting local and international articles on Facebook and Instagram, the company said, saying the move was “not our first choice” but the “only way to protect against an outcome that defies logic” .
Government officials quickly fought back, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg dismissing what he called “coercion or brutal threats” from the social media giant.
Rod Sims, head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which drafted the bill, called the threat “untimely and ill-conceived.”
In one of the most aggressive moves by any government to curb the power of America’s digital giants, Canberra drafted a law to force Facebook and Google to pay struggling local news agencies for content or face challenges. million dollars in fines.
The measures would also force transparency around the closely watched algorithms that tech companies use to rank content.
Facebook Australia and New Zealand chief executive Will Easton said the proposed overhaul “fails to understand the dynamics of the Internet and will hurt the news organizations the government is trying to protect.”
“More confusingly, this would force Facebook to pay news agencies for the content that publishers voluntarily place on our platforms and at a price that ignores the financial value we bring to publishers,” he said in a statement.
Easton also accused the ACCC of “ignoring important facts” during a lengthy consultation process that ended on Monday.
“The ACCC assumes that Facebook benefits the most from its relationship with publishers, when in fact the reverse is true,” he said.
“News is a fraction of what people see on their news feed and is not a major source of income for us.”
Easton said Facebook sent 2.3 billion clicks to Australian websites in the first five months of 2020 worth an estimated A $ 200 million (US $ 148 million) and is preparing to release Facebook News in Australia – a feature launched in the US last year. where the tech giant pays publishers for the news.
“Instead, we have the choice of either removing news altogether or accepting a system that allows publishers to 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.”
Facebook also informed Australian users on Tuesday of a change to its terms of service that will take effect on October 1 and allow it to remove or block access to content if “necessary to avoid or mitigate legal or regulatory impacts. negative “.
Google has also campaigned vigorously against the proposed changes, creating pop-ups on the search engine warning that “the way Australians use Google is in danger” and urging YouTubers around the world to complain to Australian authorities.
The legislation, due to be enacted this year, will initially focus on Facebook and Google – two of the richest and most powerful companies in the world – but could potentially apply to any digital platform.
The initiative has been closely watched around the world as news media around the world have suffered in an increasingly digital economy, where advertising revenue is massively captured by Facebook, Google and other big tech companies. .
The crisis has been exacerbated by the economic collapse caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with dozens of Australian newspapers closed and hundreds of journalists sacked in recent months.
Sims insisted on Tuesday that the bill was simply meant to ensure that besieged Australian news agencies “can have a seat at the negotiating table with Facebook and Google.”
“Facebook already pays some media outlets for news content,” he said. “The code is simply intended to bring fairness and transparency to Facebook’s and Google’s dealings” with media companies.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
