The Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, said that Facebook is back on the negotiating table after the decision to block the distribution of news on the platform.
Facebook CEO for Asia-Pacific Simon Milner was forced to apologize on Friday after the company banned access to accounts run by government agencies and public health departments, at a time when a vaccination campaign is under way in Australia. .
Morrison added that he welcomed Milner's apology, stressing that the closure of public information accounts by Facebook was unjustifiable. Facebook initially claimed it had no choice but to shut down health and emergency services sites, arguing that the code of conduct in the media was poorly worded.
Australia's clash with Facebook came after the development of a bill that allows news publishers to negotiate compensation they receive from tech giants.
Technology companies, namely Google and Facebook, have tried to oppose the law, which affects the business model that allowed them to become some of the richest companies in the world. The two tech giants are not opposed to paying for online news. They already pay some news organizations for the content. But, they would prefer to have the upper hand in determining the amount they pay.
Critics have said that Google and Facebook make a lot of money through online media content, but on the other hand do not give them the value they deserve, or give them very little. The proposal includes a secure network of negotiations as an attempt to prevent companies from dominating the negotiations. For more details, click here .
Burimet: Associated Press, Reuters
