Facebook’s parent company Meta on Friday (Mar 1) announced that they will stop making payments to news publishers in Australia for the content which appears on Facebook.
This step has ignited a fresh battle with Canberra which was ahead of other countries in bringing a law which forced social media platforms to strike licencing deals.
News publishers as well as governments of countries like Australia have claimed that social media giants like Facebook and Google unfairly benefit from the links to news articles which appear on their platforms.
In the wake of these discussions, Meta has decreased back its promotion of news as well as political content to bring traffic and has claimed that news links are now only visible on the feeds of a fraction of users.
Meta has announced that it will discontinue the tab which promotes news on Facebook in Australia and the United States. It added that the news tab was pulled by the platform last year in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
As a result, “we will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content in these countries and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers”, Meta said, in the statement.
Meta vs Australian government
Meta’s decision has pitted the company against the Australian government which, as per a 2021 law opposed by the social media giant, enjoys the power to appoint a mediator who decides what amount big tech firms pay for the news links.
In a joint statement, Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said, “Meta’s decision to no longer pay for news content in a number of jurisdictions represents a dereliction of its commitment to the sustainability of Australian news media
“The decision removes a significant source of revenue for Australian news media businesses. Australian news publishers deserve fair compensation for the content they provide,” Rowland added.
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She said that the government will “work through all available options” to address the concerns, along with the country’s communications regulator.
The government was “committed to promoting a strong, sustainable and diverse media sector given its vital importance to our democracy and social cohesion”, the minister said.
Meanwhile, the country’s biggest media outlets criticised the decision and called it an attack on the industry.
News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller said, “Meta is using its immense market power to refuse to negotiate, and the government is right to explore every option for how the Media Bargaining Code’s powers can be used.”
(With inputs from agencies)
