Social media giant Facebook is threatening to remove the ability of users in Australia to share news stories on its platform if the Australian government passes its new controversial law. The company stated that users in Australia will likely no longer be able to share local and international news content on both its platform and on Instagram.
Facebook warned that this will be the scenario if the government does push through with the implementation of its new rules governing the financial arrangements between publishers and social media platforms. The law, which is being backed by News Corp Australia, aims to force online platforms to pay a bigger cut of its advertising revenues to news outlets publishing content online.
The company reasoned that the terms indicated in the proposed legislation are simply unjustified and untenable. Under the proposed law, social networking sites and online platforms would have to enter into new revenue-sharing agreements with publishers that are made by third-party arbitrators. Facebook mentioned in a statement that it had proposed its version of proposed agreements but if the law is passed, it would be left with no other choice but to completely back out of the deals.
On Monday, Facebook stated that it really has no choice in the matter if the law is passed. The company added that it would have to remove news-related content on its systems for all Australian users as the system effectively allows publishers to charge the company at the prices they set without any clear limits.
Australia's proposed legislation is the most aggressive move made by any country to try and minimize the monopoly of tech giants over the online news business. Global news organizations have long criticized companies such as Facebook and Google, which have all but taken over the digital advertising industry. In the U.S., the two companies account for more than half of the country's annual digital advertising revenues.
Media companies have argued that Facebook and Google are taking too much of the advertising revenues from their content generates. Some countries have tried to force tech firms to give a larger piece of the pie to publishers but all efforts have so far failed. In 2014, Spain attempted to pass a new law that would have forced Google to pay publishers of news content it posted on its Google News platform. Google retaliated by completely removing all Spanish news outlets from the platform, dealing a huge blow to the country's news industry.
