Facebook s move to ban news sites from its platform in Australia was a chilling warning for those who fear the same could happen in Europe.
The social media giant flexed its muscles over a proposed law that would have made it pay for journalistic content shared on its platform.
While the row has now been defused in Australia, it has sparked questions about whether the same scenario could play out on our continent.
It s clear that as in Australia, Europeans get a lot of their news content via social media companies such as Facebook. Hence, such platforms have a strong bargaining position when it comes to any negotiations on paying for content.
On Monday, however, Facebook and the Australian government struck a deal that would restore news to Facebook in the country, at least for now. “We are are satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognize the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them,” Facebook said in a statement. “As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days.”
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