Facebook has blocked Australian users of its platform from reading and sharing local and international news, stepping up its campaign against government plans to force technology giants to pay publishers for their news content.
“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” Facebook said in a blog post announcing the move.
“It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.”
Government news sites are being affected by the Facebook news ban.(Facebook)
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the timing of Facebook s ban came as the social giant saw the passage of the proposed code through the House of Representatives yesterday - but the government had no warning.
The bill is yet to go through the Senate. Facebook is in no doubt that we re committed to the code, but also we would like to see them here in Australia, Mr Frydenberg said. Â
Queensland Health s page has been restored.(Facebook) But I think their actions today were unnecessary and wrong. Â
The Treasurer spoke to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today about differing interpretations of the proposed media code.Â