Facebook's move to block news publishers in Australia may create an even stronger backlash against the company, adding fuel to arguments that it has too much power.
Facebook s brazen attempt to crush regulations in Australia may backfire
Elizabeth Dwoskin and Gerrit De Vynck, The Washington Post
Feb. 18, 2021
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Facebook s decision to flip a switch on Wednesday night - causing Australia s news industry to go dark on the social network - was a remarkable flexing of power by one of the world s mightiest companies.
The social media giant said it was backed into a corner by a new law there, which requires Internet companies to pay news publishers for their content and for those rates to be set by a government arbitrator. Instead of comply, Facebook has blocked all news content on its site in Australia.
Australia on Feb 18 slammed Facebook as “heavy-handed” and “wrong” to impose a news blackout over a law that would force it to pay for content, warning the ban showed the immense power of Internet giants.
Australia slams Facebook as it imposes news blackout over media law
AFP/Brisbane
Reuters file
Australians are unable to post links to news articles or view the Facebook pages of local and international news outlets
Australia on Thursday slammed Facebook as heavy-handed and wrong to impose a news blackout over a law that would force it to pay for content, warning the ban showed the immense power of internet giants.
Facebook and other tech firms have pushed back hard against Australia s world-first legislation, fearing it could create a global precedent and hit their business model.
From early Thursday, Australians were unable to post links to news articles or view the Facebook pages of local and international news outlets, while users logged in overseas could not view Australian news pages.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Facebook had made a decision to “unfriend” Australia. He vowed to press ahead with regulation, while slamming Facebook for “cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services”. The actions, he said, were “as arrogant as they were disappointing”.
A Facebook spokesperson said official government pages – including those alerting the public to COVID-19 outbreaks, bushfires and cyclones – were not the target and were “inadvertently impacted”. Some non-news sites caught up in the blackout gradually returned throughout the day, but Australians are still grappling with fallout from the decision.
Human Rights Watch Australia director Elaine Pearson described the move – which has also impacted indigenous community pages and even Facebook’s own page – as an “alarming and dangerous turn of events”.