On February 17, Facebook announced it would prevent users and publishers from “sharing or viewing Australian and international news content.” This means Australian news publishers and individual users will be unable to post or share any news content to Facebook, and they will not have access to international publishers’ content. Despite claiming to champion journalism, Facebook said they give more value to publishers, and they receive “minimal” business gain from news. Facebook’s action was a direct retaliation to the News Media Bargaining Code gaining approval from the Australian parliament. They claim the Code is not workable, as digital platforms struggle to avoid compensating publishers for their content. Read more here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
