Facebook to lift news ban for Australian users and publishers

Facebook will lift its news ban for Australian users and publishers, less than a week after making the surprising decision.

The ban, made last week in response to a proposed new media trading law, meant that Australian users could no longer view or share local articles, while international Facebook users were also banned from watching Australian news.

The lifting of the ban means that local news posts and sites, including news.com.au, will be back on Facebook, and content will be able to be shared once more in the coming days.

“Facebook has informed the government that it intends to restore the Australian news pages in the coming days,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a statement.

Facebook also confirmed the news, saying in a statement that it was “pleased that we were able to reach an agreement with the Australian government and we appreciate the constructive discussions we have had with Treasurer (Josh) Frydenberg and Minister (of Communications) (Paul). Fletcher for the last week. “

Frydenberg added: “The amendments will strengthen the hand of regional and small publishers to obtain adequate remuneration for the use of their content by digital platforms.

“These amendments will provide greater 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.”

The amendments included taking “into account whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry by entering into trade agreements with media companies.”

Facebook Australia and New Zealand CEO William Easton said: “We have consistently supported a framework that would encourage innovation and collaboration between online platforms and publishers,” said the social media giant.

“After further discussion, 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 boost our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days.”

The social media giant made the surprising decision last Thursday to ban news sites after the Federal Government pushed through a plan to force platforms to pay for news content.

Both Facebook and Google initially responded with fury, and Google threatened to withdraw its search engine from the country during an investigation in January.

Frydenberg had “constructive” discussions with Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg over the weekend, where he “reiterated the Morrison government’s commitment to implement the code and see journalists rewarded for generating original content.”

The talks followed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s scathing attack on the news ban last week, where, in a post on the platform, he criticized her not only for erasing the pages of the media, but also government organizations.

“Facebook’s actions to eliminate Australia today, cutting off essential health information services and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing,” Morrison said.