Facebook says it will block users in Australia from sharing news if new rules go forward

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Facebook is warning its users in Australia that it will stop allowing them to share news if the country moves forward with new legislation that would force the company to pay media outlets for the use of their news content.

"This is not our first choice — it is our last," Will Easton, managing director of Facebook Australia and New Zealand, wrote in a blog post Monday."But it is the only way to protect against an outcome that defies logic and will hurt, not help, the long-term vibrancy of Australia's news and media sector."

The proposal would allow certain media outlets to bargain either individually or collectively with Facebook and Google — and to enter arbitration if the parties can't reach an agreement within three months, according to regulators. That process would involve an independent arbitrator looking at offers from both sides and settling the matter within 45 business days.

"We already invest millions of dollars in Australian news businesses and, during discussions over this legislation, we offered to invest millions more," he wrote."We had also hoped to bring Facebook News to Australia, a feature on our platform exclusively for news, where we pay publishers for their content."Regulators, on the other hand, say the move is needed to level the playing field for the news media in Australia.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also fired back at Facebook's latest announcement, saying in a statement that"Facebook's threat today to prevent any sharing of news on its services in Australia is ill-timed and misconceived." Easton said Monday that"the proposed law is unprecedented in its reach and seeks to regulate every aspect of how tech companies do business with news publishers."

 

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