Facebook threatened Tuesday to block users and media organisations in Australia from sharing news stories in an escalating challenge to government plans to force digital giants to pay for content.
Rod Sims, head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission , which drew up the draft law, called the threat “ill-timed and misconceived”. Facebook Australia and New Zealand managing director Will Easton said the proposed overhaul “misunderstands the dynamics of the internet and will do damage to the very news organisations the government is trying to protect”.
“The ACCC presumes that Facebook benefits most in its relationship with publishers, when in fact the reverse is true,” he said. “Instead, we are left with a choice of either removing news entirely or accepting a system that lets publishers charge us for as much content as they want at a price with no clear limits,” he added.Facebook on Tuesday also informed Australian users of a change in its terms of service that will come into effect on October 1 and allow it to remove or block access to content if “necessary to avoid or mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impacts”.
The initiative has been closely watched around the globe as news media worldwide have suffered in an increasingly digital economy, where advertising revenue is overwhelmingly captured by Facebook, Google and other big tech firms.
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