Facebook announced that it will restore news pages in Australia

Facebook said on Tuesday it plans to end the Australia news posting block in the coming days, which he imposed on February 18 in response to a bill requiring platforms to pay for the sharing of content produced by local media.

The social network said in a statement that it agreed with the Australian government “a series of changes and guarantees”, which will allow it to continue to invest “in public service journalism and restore the news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days “.

The cancellation of the profiles of the news pages, undertaken without notice by the American multinational last week, has been widely criticized by the media, activists and the Australian government., shortly before the start of the vaccination campaign against covid-19.

The Chief of the Treasury, Josh Frydenmberg, and the Australian Minister of Communications, Paul Fletcher, announced on Tuesday that the Canberra executive will bring forward new amendments to give “more clarity to digital platforms and the media ”on this controversial bill which is being debated in Parliament.

The bill, approved last week by the House of Representatives and which came to the Senate this week, requires companies to strike a deal with the media to pay them for creating news based on monetization of links posted on the platform.

Ministers explained today that the amendments will take into account whether the digital platform has made “a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian information industry”. and they will issue a one month notice prior to the arbitration process.

“The code maintains its key measures, that is, it is a mandatory code. A leading code in the world, “Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra, praising the deal with Facebook to negotiate” in good faith “with the media.

Last week, Facebook faced a massive campaign against him by banning Australian users from sharing and reading information on the social network.

“Remove Facebook,” “Boycott Zuckerberg” and “Facebook we need to talk” started trending this Thursday on Twitter as anger over the measure spread to countries around the world.

David Cicillin, a member of the United States House of Representatives, said that ‘Facebook is not compatible with democracy’, as people have also been urged to ditch Instagram and WhatsApp because Mark Zuckerberg’s company owns them.

Former CEO of Facebook Stephen Scheeler backed the boycott of the platform and urged Australians to remove the app in protest.

“I am proud to be a former Facebook, but over the years I have become more and more exasperated. For Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, it’s too much about money and power, and not the right thing, ”asserted.

The ban has also led to the blocking of a large number of non-news sites, including health agencies that provide information about the COVID-19 disease, emergency services that alert fires, shelters for victims of domestic violence, charities and food banks.

Facebook’s fight with Australia comes amid a global pressure to force tech giants to pay for content, while considering applying similar laws in the UK, EU and US.

With information from EFE

MORE ON THIS TOPIC: