Facebook Reverses News Ban On Australian Sites

Facebook Agrees To Reverse News Ban On Australian Sites After Striking Deal With Government.

FACEBOOK has agreed to reverse the ban on Australian news pages following a new deal with the federal government. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced that news was being restored on Facebook after the government agreed to amend the code.

“Absolutely critically, the code maintains its key measures, namely it is a mandatory code,” he told reporters. The government has been advised by Facebook that it intends to restore Australian news pages in the coming days,” a statement from the ministers said.

In the statement, Mr Frydenberg and Mr Fletcher said the government would make further amendments to the news media bargaining code. Last week Facebook stopped Australian users from sharing or posting news links in response to the code. A number of non-news pages were swept up in the ban, including community organisations and even the Bureau of Meteorology.

Facebook said in a statement that it was “pleased” the company was able to reach an agreement with the government.

“[We] appreciate the constructive discussions we’ve had with Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister Fletcher over the past week,” it said. After further discussions, we are satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognise the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them. As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days.”

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