Facebook to ‘ban’ Australians from sharing and viewing news articles

Facebook says it’s banning publishers and users in Australia from sharing and viewing news articles.

The social media giant says the move is in response to the federal government’s proposed legislation to create a media bargaining code.

Facebook said the proposed law “fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers”.

The stunning decision means Australian publishers won’t be able to share their stories on Facebook, while international news won’t be visible or able to be shared by Australian Facebook users.

“They’ve always said they’re a platform, not a publisher,” Peter Lewis, Director, Centre for Responsible Technology from The Australia Institute, told Ross and Russel.

“I think that doesn’t stand scrutiny.

“What they are saying is that they’re bigger than any government.

“They’ve willfully turned a blind eye when their platform has been used by dictators to spread mistrust and violence, they’ve turned a blind eye when conspiracy theorists have pushed dangerous health messages, or anti-health messages, but when a democratically elected government says it we think there should be rules about how you operate, they say ‘bugger off’.”

It comes after Google agreed to pay Nine Entertainment Co, which owns 3AW, more than $30 million in cash annually for the use of its news content.

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