Facebook announces seizure of all ties with Australian media companies
The new Media Bargaining Law misunderstands user- company relationship.
Google also threatened the nation to break ties following the new Media Laws
Multi-billion dollar company Facebook has announced to end all ties with both the Australian users and media companies and prohibit them from uploading, sharing or viewing any news containing local and international content, in response to the Australian government proposed new Media Bargaining law.
The digital platform biggie Facebook said with great discontent that the proposed law fundamentally misunderstands and deteriorates the relationship between their platform and their publishers who avail its services to view and share news content.
William Easton, the Managing Director of Facebook Australia & New Zealand expressed grievously that the new law has left the future of the company puzzled and brought them at cross roads, either attempt to comply with a law that absolutely shatters the realities of the user-provider relationship, or to stop and seize the publishing of any future news content on their services and platforms in Australia and added that with a heavy heart, the company is choosing the latter.
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Late last month, tech giant Google Inc. also threatened to withdraw its Search engine services from Australia considering that the proposed new media bargaining code, which shall eventually direct Google and other giant digital service providers to pay the news publishers for availing their content, is enforced.
But Google had subsequently launched its News Showcase platform in the Australian network where rapidly increasing number of local and regional publishers would be paid for providing their content for News Showcase. However, Facebook has commented that its digital platforms have different relationships with the news provider.
Google Search engine is deeply inextricably intertwined with the news publishers and providers who do not voluntarily publish their content. However, publishers willingly choose Facebook to post and share news, as it permits them to add and sell more subscriptions, provides more scope for them to grow their audiences and hence increase advertising revenue, as explained by William Easton.
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Facebook had last year generated about 5.1 billion free referrals to be provided to Australian publishers which would be worth an estimated 407 million Australian dollars.
Revealing their plans, Facebook told that they were prepared to launch Facebook News in Australia and intended to significantly increase their investments with local publishers; however, these plans were only prepared to be put into place if only the right rules in place.
Tech giant Facebook have said that the company will now be prioritising investments in other countries.
Previous week after slamming both tech giants Google and Facebook for their approach to the News Media Bargaining Code in Australia, Microsoft President Brad Smith said that the US and its tech sector must not object to any creative proposal that strengthens democracy by requestingg tech companies to support a free press.
