Facebook blocks news in Australia, PM describes the move as 'arrogant' and 'disappointing'

Web traffic to Australian news sites has dropped by about 30 per cent

The Australian government has slammed Facebook for its decision to block the pages of domestic and international news publishers for Australian users and to restrict them from sharing any news content from Australian publishers.

The social media giant took the action in protest at an upcoming law that would require big tech platforms like Google and Facebook to pay Australian publishers for sharing their content on their platforms.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described Facebook's decision as "arrogant" and "disappointing" and vowed to press ahead with proposed laws to force Facebook to compensate news outlets.

Morrison wrote on his own Facebook page that Facebook's actions "will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behaviour of Big Tech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them".

Morrison also stated that he had received support from several countries, including Britain, France, India and Canada, after the social media giant blacked out all media.

"There is a lot of world interest in what Australia is doing," Morrison said in a press conference in Sydney on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The dispute centres on proposed Australian law under which, Google and Facebook will be required to pay local publishers for showing snippets and links to news stories in its search results.

The most contentious part of the draft law requires tech giants to enter mandatory arbitration with local publishers if they fail to reach an agreement within three months over the value of their content. A mediator would then select between the payment proposal put forward by the tech firm and the proposal coming from the news outlet.

Facebook's decision to remove news content for Australians was quickly criticised by politicians, news producers, and human rights advocates, especially after reports that official safety warnings, health pages and welfare networks had all been wiped out from Facebook platform along with news.

The total web traffic to the Australian news sites from various platforms used outside the country has dropped by about 30 per cent, according to early data from analytics firm Chartbeat.

A Facebook spokesperson said that it blocked a wide swathe of media content in Australia because the draft law did not clearly define news content, and the company took "a broad definition in order to respect the law as drafted".

The spokesperson added that some pages, including government sites, were taken down by mistake would be restored soon.

In January, Google had also said that it could withdraw search functions in Australia over the media law. Google Australia's managing director Mel Silva told an Australian Senate hearing in January that if the proposed code of conduct becomes a law, Google would have no other option but to withdraw Google Search from Australia.

It now appears that the company is not in the mood to escalate tensions with the Australian government. In recent days, Google has sealed pre-emptive deals with several outlets in Australia under its own News Showcase model.

Earlier this week, Google signed a three-year deal with the Murdoch-owned News Corp., which includes ad revenue sharing and the development of a subscription platform.

"Today's agreement with News Corp covers a wide range of our products such as News Showcase, YouTube, Web Stories, Audio and our ad technology," Don Harrison, president of global partnerships at Google, said in a statement.

"News Showcase now has partnerships with over 500 publications around the world, demonstrating the value this product can bring to our news partners and readers everywhere."

Harrison added: "We hope to announce even more partnerships soon."