In the fight for tech giants to pay for news, Google relented. Facebook didn t
Gerrit De Vynck, The Washington Post
Feb. 17, 2021
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FILE - In this March 11, 2014 file photo, News Corp. Exeuctive Chairman Rupert Murdoch, center, and his sons, Lachlan, left, and James Murdoch attend the 2014 Television Academy Hall of Fame in Beverly Hills.Dan Steinberg/INVL
Facebook on Wednesday blocked people in Australia from posting news stories on its website, a drastic escalation in the battle over whether tech giants should pay publishers when their stories show up in search results or on social media.
Google took the opposite approach. The company struck deals in recent days with Australia s major publishing companies, including on Wednesday with Rupert Murdoch s News Corp, to pay for some of their news content. The deal came in exchange for avoiding the most stringent parts of a new law in Australia, walking back its own threat from last month to shut down its search
The Technology 202: Facebook s ban on Australian news triggers greater scrutiny of its vast power Cat Zakrzewski
with Aaron Schaffer Facebook’s decision to block the posting and sharing of Australian news highlights the platform s vast influence over the media industry, raising the stakes in global regulators’ efforts to address its power. The social network yesterday announced it would prevent users in Australia from viewing or sharing links to news articles, and also prohibit Australian news outlets from sharing news on their Facebook pages. Facebook s brute force tactics come as it fights a proposed Australian law to force tech giants to pay for the platform to link to their news articles, which tech giants fear could become a precedent for other similar regulation around the globe.
Facebook blocks news in Australia in warning for the world
Angus Whitley, Gerry Smith, Jason Scott and Georgina McKay, Bloomberg News
Facebook Cuts Off News in Australia; Google to Pay News Corp. VIDEO SIGN OUT
Facebook Inc.âs decision to block news sharing on its Australian platform is an unprecedented show of force that escalates a legal standoff with the government and flashes a warning to regulators worldwide.
The tech giant imposed the restrictions early Thursday, an unexpected riposte to a proposed law that will force the company and Google to pay Australian publishers for news content.
Facebookâs algorithmic ambush switched off the main news source for almost one in five Australians. It also disabled accidentally, the company said a raft of government Facebook pages carrying public health advice on the coronavirus, warnings from the weather bureau and even the site of a childrenâs hospital.
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