Australia says won't change laws despite Facebook block

Australia will not change proposed laws that would make Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook pay news outlets for content, a senior lawmaker said, despite vocal opposition from the Big Tech firms. Facebook has strongly protested the laws and last week abruptly blocked all news content and several state govt and emergency department accounts.

The social media giant and Australian leaders continued discussing the changes over the weekend. But with the bill scheduled for a debate in Senate, Australia's most senior lawmaker in the upper house said there would be no further amendments. "The bill as it stands ... meets the right balance," Simon Birmingham, Australia's Minister for Finance told.

The bill in its present form ensures "Australiangenerated news content by Australian-generated news organisations can and should be paid for and done so in a fair and legitimate way".