As Australian authorities pursue a plan to have Big Tech companies pay news sites, Facebook shut down all pages that could be even vaguely be described as news ones.
As it has previously threatened to do, Facebook has removed news pages in Australia. It follows continued progress by authorities toward a proposed system of charging social media firms.
Alongside pages from news organizations, however, Facebook also shut down some charities, plus emergency services and health pages. According to
Reuters, Facebook has since restored the government-owned pages, but very many others remain inaccessible to users in Australia.
"Facebook's actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison -- in a post on Facebook.