Facebook management removed Australian media posts from their pages
The Facebook administration has completely removed Australian media publications from their official pages on February 18, ABC reports.
William Easton, Managing Director of Facebook for Australia and New Zealand, explained on his blog that this is due to a new Australian law that will oblige online platforms to pay local media to use their content. At first, it will only concern Google and Facebook. Companies will have to pay individual publications to link to their news in search results.
“Unfortunately, this law seeks to punish Facebook by forcing them to pay for content we did not ask for,” he wrote, adding that the ability to post and link to Australian media outlets will be restricted worldwide.
The Australian Ministry of Communications said the country's government would not back down on the bill following Facebook's decision.
In late January, it was reported that Google did not rule out the possibility of disconnecting Australia from its search service if the country's authorities pass a new law on media content.
