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Facebook threatens to prevent Australian users from sharing news if the social media giant is forced to compensate media companies for posting their stories.
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Australia’s leading media companies are pushing for the law to be changed so that the social media giant will pay to display its news content. Source: 1 NEWS
Will Easton, a Facebook executive, said a code of conduct being followed by the Australian government ignores the relationship between social media and news organizations, which he says would suffer the most.
“Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and individuals in Australia to share local and international news on Facebook and Instagram,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
“This is not our first option, it is our last.
“But it is the only way to guard against an outcome that defies logic and will harm, not help, the long-term vitality of Australia’s news and media sector.”
The threat follows similar warnings from Google, which claimed that proposed media trading laws could force it to offer “dramatically worse” Google and YouTube search products to Australian users.
Easton said Facebook supported the Australian government’s goal of supporting struggling news organizations, but that its solution was counterproductive.
He argued that the government wrongly assumed that Facebook benefited the most from its relationship with publishers, when the opposite was true.
Facebook sent 2.3 billion free “clicks” to Australian news websites in the first five months of the year, generating traffic worth an estimated $ 200 million.
Furthermore, Easton claimed that Facebook has already invested millions of dollars in Australian news and offered to invest even more, and proposed introducing a dedicated platform for local content.
“But these proposals were passed over,” he said.
“Instead, we are left with the option to remove the news entirely or accept a system that allows publishers to charge us for all the content they want at a price without clear limits.
“Unfortunately, no company can operate that way.”
Google warned that the proposed code could compromise the personal data of its Australian users and hinder their access to free services.
But the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission has disputed the internet search giant’s claims.
“Google will not be obliged to charge Australians for the use of its free services such as Google Search and YouTube, unless it decides to do so,” said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims.
“Google will not be required to share any additional user data with Australian news companies unless it chooses to do so.”
He said the code would allow Australian news outlets to negotiate fair pay for the work of their journalists.
