FB’s news blackout arrogant: Oz PM
■ ‘It will only confirm concerns about behaviour of tech giants’
Sydney, Feb. 18: Australians woke to empty Facebook news feeds on Thursday, after the social media giant blocked all media content in a surprise escalation of a dispute with the government, which could be a test for the future of online publishing worldwide.
The move was swiftly criticised by news producers, politicians and human rights advocates, particularly as it became clear that official health pages, emergency safety warnings and welfare networks had all been scrubbed from the site along with news.
"Facebook's actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant
as they were disappointing," Prime Minister Scott Morrison wrote on his own Facebook page, using the vernacular for cutting ties with another person on the site.
"These actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behaviour of Big Tech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them."
A planned Australian law would require Facebook and Google to reach commercial deals with news outlets whose links drive traffic to their platforms, or be subjected to forced arbitration to agree a price.
Facebook said it had blocked media content in Australia because the draft law did not provide clear guidance on the definition of news content.
Although Australia is a small market, the law is being closely watched around the world by regulators, and could be a test case for bigger global push to force internet giants to share some of their revenue with content providers.
Publishers say platforms such as Google and Facebook have been hoarding the vast bulk of new revenue as media shift online, even as newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations and websites are forced to shut newsrooms around the world.
Canberra, Feb. 18: In a surprise retaliatory move Thursday, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news stories, escalating a fight with the government over whether powerful tech companies should have to pay news organisations for content.
Australia's government condemned the step, which also blocked some government communications, including messages about emergency services, and some commercial pages. The digital platforms fear that what's happening in Australia will become an expensive precedent for other countries as governments revamp laws to catch up with the fast changing digital world.
Facebook acted after the House of Representatives passed legislation that would make it and Google pay for Australian journalism, said Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. He said he was given no warning before Facebook acted. The legislation must be passed by the Senate to become law.
Australian news organizations could not post stories and people who tried to share existing news stories got notifications saying they were blocked from doing so . “This post can't be shared," the website said. “In response to Australian government legislation, Facebook restricts the posting of news links and all posts from news Pages in Australia. Globally, the posting and sharing of news links from Australian publications is restricted."
The legislation mentioned by the notice has not yet been enacted. “Facebook's actions were unnecessary, they were heavy-handed and they will damage its reputation here in Australia,” Frydenberg said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison lashed out on his own Facebook page.
“Facebook's actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing,” Morrison posted. “These actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behavior of BigTech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them. They may be changing the world, but that doesn't mean they run it,” he added. “We will not be intimidated by BigTech seeking to pressure our Parliament.”
Facebook said the proposed Australian law “fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it.” “This is an assault on a sovereign nation,” Health Minister Greg Hunt told Parliament. “It is an assault on people's freedom and, in particular, it's an utter abuse of big technologies' market power and control over technology.”
The government contends the proposed News Media Bargaining Code will ensure media businesses will be paid fairly for journalism linked online. Both Google and Facebook had threatened to retaliate. Australia's proposal requires a negotiation safety net through an arbitration panel. The digital giants would not be able to abuse their dominant negotiating positions by making take-it-or-leaveit payment offers to news businesses for their journalism.