This has been a rough year for most of the tech giants. A few months ago, WhatsApp lost millions of its users because of the confusion. Now, Facebook bans news in Australia for users from viewing and sharing news content. According to the stats, there are about 11.4 million Australian Facebook users.
Nobody knows how much will it cost Facebook!
How did Australians react?
On February 17, 2021, all the news contents were blocked on Facebook for Australians. Facebook is facing a backlash now, as people are showing their anger by tweeting on Twitter. They are more likely to delete Facebook.
When did this start?
In 2018 the Australian government launched an inquiry. This inquiry was to find out the balance between media organizations and tech firms. As a result of the inquiry, tech firms won the competition. The Australian government unleashed a draft of a media law in July 2020. The draft stated that tech giants have to pay newsrooms for their journalism. Since then, tech giants have been giving threats of withdrawing their services in the country.
Reason for banning news content in Australia
The Australian government proposed a media law. The law states that tech giants should pay a fair amount to newsrooms for their journalism. However, there has been no declaration of its worth yet. The government said that this law initially focuses on Google and Facebook. Tech giants refused to accept this law.
What’s the part of Google in it?
Google said if the law passed, Australians could lose their search engine as well. However, as per the news, Google has agreed to pay Mr. Murdoch’s News Corp in exchange for their news content. It also had agreements with other Australian Media Companies. It is not clear what action will Google take if the law passed.
Constructive meeting of Josh Frydenberg with CEO of FacebookÂ
Josh Frydenberg tweeted about the meeting with the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. On Wednesday, he had a ‘constructive’ meeting with him. In the meeting, they discussed the media law and its consequences. Frydenberg stated that the company has damaged its reputation.
What happens next?
Well, almost everyone is curious about what happens next. The law has been passed by the parliament’s lower house. However, it could pass the Senate as well. The law has got great political support. Facebook bans news content in Australia as a response to the media law proposed by the government. However, the Australian government is still not giving up. Moreover, they won’t step back because of provoking threats from Google and Facebook.
