Facebook Is Set to Reverse Its Australian News Ban

Well, that was quick.

Last week, the internet was shook when Facebook announced its decision to ban publishers and users in Australia from sharing or viewing any news articles.

The ban was Facebook's response to the Australian government's Media Bargaining Code, which was attempting to force internet giants like Facebook and Google to pay for local publishers.

However, Facebook went ahead and blocked all Aussie publishers and users from sharing news instead.

Overnight Facebook deleted all news posts for users in Australia. They can't post Aus news or access anything international. I am amazed.

— Jennifer Johnson (@jenrazzle) February 18, 2021

"The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share content," Facebook Australia's Managing Director, William Easton, said in a statement.

"It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter." 

On Thursday, news outlets had their Facebook pages wiped (our articles were removed from our page too).

Plus, government pages like Queensland Health and the Bureau of Meteorology were restricted, but their content was quickly restored.

Now, less than a week later, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher have revealed that Facebook will reverse its ban on Aussie news. 

"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.

As reported by the ABC, the statement said that the government would make further amendments to the news media bargaining code.

The amendments aim to provide "further clarity" to the proposed media code.

[We're] pleased that we've been able to reach an agreement with the Australian government and appreciate the constructive discussions we've had with Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister Fletcher over the past week," Facebook said in a statement.

"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." 

At this stage, Facebook has not confirmed exactly when Aussie news content will be restored.

We'll be sure to keep you posted.

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