Facebook To Restore News Content For Australian Users After Negotiation

Facebook says that it will unblock news content for Australian users in the coming days. In return, Australia will make amendments to a proposed law that Facebook bitterly opposed. It’s yet unclear who blinked first.

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg today announced that Facebook has “re-friended” Australia. The company confirmed just as much in a public statement, noting it was pleased to reach an agreement with the government.

Facebook said Australia agreed to some changes and guarantees that address its core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognize the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them. That might be a roundabout way of saying news companies owe a lot of their traffic to Facebook, and Facebook gets relatively little in return.

Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice-president for Global News Partnerships, also explained in a separate statement that Facebook would retain the ability to decide if news that appears on the social media platform will be automatically subjected to forced negotiations.

Up until Monday, Australia said that it wouldn’t make any changes to the proposed law at the heart of its dispute with Facebook. Frydenberg claimed Google approved of the new changes, but Reuters said that a Google spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.

Last week, Facebook dramatically blocked all news content from its Australian users, sparking ire in the country and across the world. Its recent return to the negotiating table was perhaps spurred by the realisation that many other countries are watching and intend to follow in Australia’s footsteps.

Australia Announces That Facebook Has ‘Tentatively Friended Us Again’

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Facebook has returned to the negotiating table with the government, Reuters reported. Earlier this week, the social media giant abruptly blocked all Australian users from posting or sharing news content on its platform over pending legislation that would force it to pay local media outlets.

At the time, Morrison lashed out at Facebook, calling the company “arrogant” and insisting that his government would not be “intimidated”, The Independent said. Now, tempers seem to have cooled. Morrison told a news conference today that Facebook has “tentatively friended us again” and said that he was “pleased” that the social media giant was back at the negotiating table.

Reuters noted that Facebook hasn’t publicly changed its stance against the proposed media law, which is expected to pass the Australian Parliament soon. So, it’s not clear what, if any, progress both sides have made towards resolving this conflict.

By dramatically blocking news content, Facebook has taken a very different tack than Google, which also opposed the legislation. Over the past few days, Google has been making pay-for-news deals with major news outlets, including Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp and Australia’s Seven West Media.

And Facebook’s troubles aren’t unlikely to end in Australia. Canada is also determined to make Facebook pay for news, and is considering adopting the Australian model.

“I suspect that soon we will have five, 10, 15 countries adopting similar rules … is Facebook going to cut ties with Germany, with France?” said Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, according to Reuters. He asserted that at some point Facebook’s approach would become “totally unsustainable”.

Australia Claims Google And Facebook Close To Pay-For-News Deals

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Google and Facebook are “very close” to striking “very significant commercial deals” to pay Australian media outlets for news, Bloomberg reported, citing a transcript from the minister’s office. The development, if true, could end a months-long standoff between Australia and the tech giants, which have previously threatened to block or limit their services in the country.

Frydenberg has held discussions with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the weekend. Both companies have publicly opposed a proposed Australian law that would force them to pay fees to domestic news outlets for content. That very law will be considered in the Australian Parliament this week, prodding the tech giants to agree to payment terms before it is passed.

At the same time, Seven West Media, a major Australian media company, announced that it reached a paid deal with Google to provide content for the latter’s News Showcase. According to the Associated Press, Google has struck pay deals with over 450 publications across the world since News Showcase debuted last October.

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes praised Australian authorities and credited the proposed pay-for-news law for allowing the company to reach a deal with Google that resulted in “fair payment” and that would secure its digital future.

Despite their bluster, it seems that both companies are unwilling to concede their dominant market positions in Australia. Google rival Microsoft was already looking to capitalise on the former’s possible exit from Australia by pushing Bing as an alternative.

Many other countries, including Canada and those within the EU, have been trying to get Google and Facebook to pay local media outlets for content. As such, this development could set a significant precedent for the global journalistic industry.