Facebook threatens to stop Australians sharing local and international news

Facebook has threatened to stop Australians from sharing news to their social media pages as the tech giant avoids paying organisations for their content. 

In a world first, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a draft code in July directing social media giants to negotiate fair payment deals. 

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher claim Facebook had ‘an imbalance in bargaining power’ and it needed to be fixed. 

The competition regulator is proposing laws that would allow commercial news media companies to negotiate ‘an appropriate payment for news content’. 

But now Facebook Australia, which was paid $674 million by local advertisers in 2019, has retaliated by saying it will ‘reluctantly’ stop all publishers from sharing local and international news should the new code be legislated. 

There are fears the move will lead to a proliferation of fake news and conspiracy content on the site.

Australia and New Zealand managing director for Facebook Will Easton said the draft code of conduct ignored the relationship between social media and news organisations, which he claimed would suffer the most.

‘Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram,’ Mr Easton said in a statement on Tuesday.

‘This is not our first choice – it is our last.

‘But it is the only way to protect against an outcome that defies logic and will hurt, not help, the long-term vibrancy of Australia’s news and media sector.’  

Under the proposed new arrangement, Facebook would be forced to negotiate with media companies for fair payment of their news content.

Should agreement not be reached, an independent umpire would brought into to decide appropriate payment within 45 days, taking into account the value of news content to the platform and the cost of producing the content.

 But Mr Easton says the new regulation misunderstands the dynamics of the internet and will do great damage to news organisations.

Similar concerns have been expressed by Google, which has launched a campaign calling for the laws to be scrapped. 

‘When crafting this new legislation, the commission overseeing the process ignored important facts, most critically the relationship between the news media and social media and which one benefits most from the other,’ he said. 

The managing director said he supports the Australian Government’s goal of supporting news organisations – in particular local newspapers. 

‘The proposed law is unprecedented in its reach and seeks to regulate every aspect of how tech companies do business with news publishers,’ Mr Easton said. 

‘Most perplexing, it would force Facebook to pay news organisations for content that the publishers voluntarily place on our platforms and at a price that ignores the financial value we bring publishers.’ 

Mr Easton adds that Facebook was hoping to introduce Facebook News – a dedicated news section where it paid news publishers for their content. 

‘We already invest millions of dollars in Australian news businesses and, during discussions over this legislation, we offered to invest millions more,’ Mr Easton said.

‘Since Facebook News launched last year in the US, publishers we partner with have seen the benefit of additional traffic and new audiences.

‘But these proposals were overlooked. 

‘Instead, we are left with a choice of either removing news entirely or accepting a system that lets publishers charge us for as much content as they want at a price with no clear limits. Unfortunately, no business can operate that way.’

The ACCC’s final report was published on July 31, three months after the government directed it to develop a mandatory code of conduct.

The new rules would give more power to news media businesses that earned at least $150,000 a year in revenue and served an Australian audience.

The government-owned ABC and SBS, and trade publications would not be covered.