All You Need to Know About Facebook’s News Sharing Policies in Australia
In Australia, the fight between the regulators and the internet giants like Facebook are heating up quite fast. It’s been brewing for a while, with the lawmakers looking at different ways to ensure user’s privacy and provide support to other media outlets. So, nobody is surprised that Facebook has stopped the ability for Australians to read the news on their platform.The Proposed Law That’s Getting on Facebook’s Nerves
Australian regulators had been trying to put in place a law to break the monopoly of internet platforms. To do so, they are proposing some rules that will force the internet giants like Facebook to pay news publishers directly to show their contents on the platform. They hope that the increased revenue would help the publishers to remain in business, while also improving the quality of their contents.
While Facebook doesn’t explicitly oppose the law, it argues that it shouldn’t apply to them.
Facebook’s Response to the Australian Regulators
On 17th of February, 2021, Facebook announced that the Australian users will not be able to view or share news on their platform. Mark Zuckerberg’s company cited the issue with a proposed law in Australia as the reasons for this unprecedented decision.
In their post, the managing director of Facebook Australia and New Zealand also took a swipe against Google by drawing a comparison with their services. It reads that while Google’s search results are intertwined with the news outlets and publishers, they don’t post it on the platform voluntarily. Whereas, on Facebook, publishers do so voluntarily as it brings in more viewers and subscribers for their contents.
As a result, Facebook finds it unfair that they would have to pay to show third-party news on their platform.