|
Facebook's abrupt decision to stop Australians from sharing news
on the site and strip the pages of domestic and foreign news
outlets also erased several state government and emergency
department accounts, causing widespread anger.
The company has "tentatively friended us again," Morrison told a
news conference in Sydney. "What I'm pleased about it that
Facebook is back at the table again."
Facebook has publicly indicated no change in its opposition to a
proposed law requiring social media platforms to pay for links
to news content. Morrison was not asked about that.
Australia's Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Friday he had
spoken with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and further talks were
expected over the weekend. It was not clear whether those talks
have happened.
A Facebook spokeswoman and representatives for Frydenberg did
not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The stand-off comes as Australia's vows to press ahead with the
landmark legislation, which could set a global precedent as
countries like Canada express interest in taking similar action.
The Australian law, which would force Facebook and Alphabet
Inc's Google to reach commercial deals with Australian
publishers or face compulsory arbitration, has cleared the lower
house of parliament and is expected to be passed by the Senate
within the next week.
Simon Milner, Facebook’s Asia-Pacific policy director of policy
for the Asia-Pacific region, was quoted on Saturday as telling
the Sydney Morning Herald the company had three main objections
to the legislation.
Facebook objects to being barred from discriminating between
different news outlets that ask for money, to arbitration models
that allow an independent body to select one payment over
another, and to the obligation to enter commercial negotiations
with Australian media companies, Milner said.
Facebook declined to make Milner available to speak with
Reuters.
Australia's legislation is being widely watched overseas.
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Thursday
his country would adopt the Australian approach as it crafts its
own legislation in coming months.
Google, which has initially threatened to close its search
engine in Australia, has announced host of preemptive licensing
deals over the past week, including a global agreement with News
Corp.
Facebook's move had an immediate impact on traffic to Australian
new sites, according to early data from New York-based analytics
firm Chartbeat.
Total traffic to the Australian news sites from various
platforms fell from the day before the ban by around 13% within
the country.
(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by William Mallard)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
