Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) made a polemic after it blocked all Australian news content. The social media giant restricted sharing any news content from Australia anywhere in the world, counter-attacking the Australian lawmakers proposition of “Mandatory Bargaining Code”.
The mandatory bargaining code that Australia intended to apply, required tech giants like Facebook and Google to pay media publishers in return for sharing their news content on the social media platform and search engines.
However, Facebook denied the request and blocked all news coming from the country. On the other hand, Google settled for a negotiation with Australian publishers including Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media conglomerate and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
The move by Australian lawmakers intended to limit Facebook and Google’s capacity over its digital advertising. Lawmakers argued that news publishers revenues declined dramatically due to the tech giants’ power.
Australian News publishers vs Google & Facebook
In recent years, news publishers alleged Google and Facebook for depriving them of any revenues. Furthermore, they alleged the tech giants of taking control over publishing using algorithms and making huge profits on behalf of news publishers.
