Metaplatform said: It would halt payments to Australian news publishers for content published on Facebook, setting up a new battle with Canberra, which led the world in laws forcing internet giants into licensing deals.
News publishers and governments such as Australia have argued that Facebook and Google unfairly benefit from advertising revenue when links to news articles appear on their platforms. Meta says it is scaling back on promoting news and political content to increase traffic, and that news links are now part of users' feeds.
Meta said in a statement that it was discontinuing Facebook tabs promoting news in Australia and the US, adding that it discontinued News tabs in the UK, France and Germany last year.
As a result, “we will not enter into new commercial agreements for legacy news content in these countries, nor will we offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers,” the statement added.
This decision puts Meta against the Australian government and its 2021 Act.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters: “The idea that one company can benefit from the investment of another is unfair, not just investment in capital, but investment in people, investment in journalism.” Ta. “That's not the Australian way.”
The government is seeking advice from Treasury and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on next steps.
Former ACCC chair Rod Sims, who oversaw the law's development, said Mr Mehta's reversal was self-serving and said the decision would undermine the quality of journalism published on social media. I was concerned about this. “This is like meth sticking its nose in the Australian Parliament,” he said.
not mandatory
Under a 2021 law, the country's government must decide whether to appoint an intermediary to set Meta's fees and could impose fines if Meta doesn't cooperate. Most of Meta's contracts with Australian media are for three years and are set to expire in 2024.
But Meta is not obligated to pay news publishers if it blocks users from reposting news articles, as it briefly did in 2021. Similar measures have been in place in Canada since 2023, when similar legislation was passed. Mehta said Friday that publishers can continue to post news content on Facebook.
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Curtin University internet studies professor Tama Lieber said Meta was reluctant to escalate the dispute by stopping users from posting news links in Australia and would challenge it in court if the government intervened. He said he was likely to file a complaint.
“Meta is saying, 'What are you going to do?' The Australian government has a real decision to make,” he said.
Australia's biggest media outlets condemned the decision as an attack on the industry.
News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said: “Meta is using its huge market power to refuse to negotiate, and it is unclear how the government can leverage the power of the Media Bargaining Code.'' It's natural to consider all options.”
Nine Entertainment CEO Mike Sneesby said the decision meant the media company, which owns the Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review mastheads and free-to-air television channels, He said he didn't recognize the value he created for the meta.
The deal value was not disclosed, but Australian media reported that the Facebook deal was worth A$70 million (R865 million) a year to the industry.
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Google's media license agreement in Australia is primarily for five years and expires in 2026. A spokesperson said the company has already begun negotiations to renew the contract.
Many governments around the world remain keen to prevent local news industries from being squeezed out of the online advertising market. Last month, Indonesia also unveiled plans to make big tech companies pay for news content. — Byron Kaye, Lewis Jackson, Alasdair Pal, (c) 2024 Reuters
