Updated: February 24, 2021 12:11:32 am
Facebook announced Tuesday that it would reinstate news link sharing by users and news editors in the coming days after reaching an agreement with the Australian government. For its part, the Australian government is adding four new amendments to the proposed legislation, a big step down from its previous version where it had said it would not make any changes.
The new media code will reportedly not apply to Facebook if the company can demonstrate that it has signed enough agreements with news publishers to continue to support newsrooms. Facebook has said that if the code is applied to them in the future, they could get news out of the country once again.
What has Facebook announced?
Facebook said it has reached an agreement with the Australian government and will once again allow users and publishers of Australian news to share and post links to news articles. Last week, Facebook had banned all Australia-based news users and publishers from posting links to news on the platform. The ban also affected the pages of Australian hospitals, charities and government organizations who found that their pages had been removed.
“After further discussions with the Australian government, we reached an agreement that will allow us to support publishers of our choice, including small and local publishers. We are restoring news to Facebook in Australia in the coming days, ”wrote Campbell Brown, Vice President of Global News Partnerships in a new post.
“… We are pleased that the Australian government has accepted a number of changes and guarantees that address our fundamental concerns about enabling trade agreements that recognize the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them. As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore the news on Facebook to Australians in the coming days, ”Facebook said in an updated blog post.
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So what is the new deal?
Going forward, Facebook “will retain the ability to decide whether news appears” on the platform, ensuring that it will not “automatically be subject to forced negotiation,” according to Campbell’s statement. He added that while Facebook has always tried to support journalism in Australia and the world, the company “will resist efforts by media conglomerates to promote regulatory frameworks that do not take into account the true exchange of value between publishers and platforms such as Facebook”.
According to Reuters, the Australian government has added four amendments to the proposed code.
These include a two-month mediation period, which will give the two parties more time to “negotiate commercial agreements” before entering arbitration.
Previously, the code required mandatory arbitration with a government-appointed arbitrator, if news publishers and tech giants were unable to reach a fair agreement to display news content. Both Google and Facebook were unhappy with this forced arbitration clause.
The amendments also include a rule stating that an internet company’s contribution to the “sustainability of the Australian news industry” through existing agreements must be considered before the code is applied to them, and they will be advised at least one month in advance before it is actually applied. “These amendments will provide more clarity to digital platforms and news media companies on how the code is intended to operate and will strengthen the framework to ensure that news media companies are fairly compensated,” said Josh Frydenberg , Secretary of the Treasury in a statement, Reuters reported.
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