Facebook draws fire by blocking news in Australia

CANBERRA－In a shocking act of retaliation on Thursday, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news, a milestone in the increasingly frantic jockeying between governments, media and powerful tech companies.

Australia's government condemned the decision, which also blocked some government communications, including messages about emergency services, and some commercial pages. The digital platforms fear that what's happening in Australia will become an expensive precedent for other countries.

Facebook took the drastic action after the Australian House of Representatives passed legislation that would make Facebook and Google pay for Australian journalism, said Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. He said he was given no warning before Facebook acted. The legislation must be passed by the Senate to become law.

"Facebook's actions were unnecessary. They were heavy-handed and they will damage its reputation here in Australia," Frydenberg said.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison later lashed out on his own Facebook page, using Facebook jargon.

"Facebook's actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing," Morrison posted. "We will not be intimidated by BigTech seeking to pressure our Parliament."

Facebook said the proposed law "fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it".

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told Parliament: "This is an assault on a sovereign nation. It is an assault on people's freedom and, in particular, it's an utter abuse of big technologies' market power and control over technology."

Both Google and Facebook have threatened retaliation if Australia enacts the law, which the government contends will ensure media businesses receive fair payment for their journalism being linked on those platforms.

'Take it or leave it'

Australia's proposal requires a negotiation safety net through an arbitration panel. The digital giants would not be able to abuse their dominant negotiating positions by making take-it-or-leave-it payment offers to news businesses for their journalism. In case of a standoff, the panel would make a binding decision on a winning offer.

Facebook had threatened to block access to Australian news rather than pay for it under the proposed News Media Bargaining Code. Google had threatened to remove its search functions from Australia because it said the proposed law was unworkable.

But Google's threat has faded as it quickly stitches up licensing content deals with Australian media companies under its own News Showcase model.

The government accused Facebook of endangering public safety by temporarily blocking state emergency services messaging on a day when there were severe fire and flood warnings in various parts of Australia.

A Facebook spokesperson said official government pages "should not be impacted by today's announcement" and the company "will reverse any pages that are inadvertently impacted".

But Hunt said the Royal Children's Hospital in the southern city of Melbourne still didn't have its feed fixed after more than eight hours.

Agencies Via Xinhua