Australian Government Threatens Action Against Meta

The Australian government has threatened Meta following its decision to stop paying local media companies.

The government has said that it is very concerned about the move by Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, and would consider all options available under the News Media Bargaining Code.

Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister in an interview to the newspaper The Australian described the move as “unfair” and said that , “Journalism is important and the idea that research and work done by others can be taken for free is simply intolerable. We will respond in the national interest.”

Meta and Google struck deals in 2021 to pay media companies including smaller websites, broadcasters and newspapers, over $130mn a year.

Back in the day, the agreement was the first between the tech giants and media companies. This came into being following a major standoff between Google and the then government, leading to google threatening to shut down its search operations in the country.

The Aussie government had passed a law that allowed media companies to sue tech companies millions of dollars if they refused to pay for content.

Meta had recently announced that it was discontinuing its news feed in the US and Australia. This comes after it cancelled the news tab last year in the UK, France and Germany.

The statement issued by Meta said that as a result, “we will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content in these countries and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers.”

The company said that the lack of interest from users has forced it take the decision.

“To ensure that we continue to invest in products and services that drive user engagement, we will not enter new commercial deals for traditional news content in these countries and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future,” the statement from Meta read.