Lately big technology companies like Facebook and Google have been immersed in controversies with the laws of different countries. During 2020 we saw how both companies faced different legal processes, as a result of monopolistic practices, however this is the first known time that the social network blocks content in an entire country: this is the Facebook vs. Australia dispute .
In Australia, a conflict has arisen between the country’s government, the media and both technology giants. Director of Facebook for New Zealand and Australia, indicated that news content on the social network would be restricted for this country.
«In response to the proposed new media negotiation law in Australia, Facebook will restrict publishers and Australians from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content», in his statement.
Facebook Vs Australia: the reasons for the dispute
To better understand the actions taken by the social network, we must take into account where this new law implemented by the Australian government comes from. Both Google and Facebook are a fundamental part of people’s daily lives.and therefore are a primary source of information.
From this point, by 2018 The Australian government conducted research into the influence of these companies on the media and advertising environment. As a result, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found that the power in these arenas had a clear tilt towards tech companies.
According to the study, for every €100 spent on online advertising, Google collects 53 and Facebook 28, leaving the rest to distribute among other companies and websites.
As a result of this, a project was initiated to implement a new media negotiation law to balance the business field. According to this law, Facebook and Google must pay publishers a fair share for the publications made on their platforms.
The reaction of Facebook and Google
The responses from the companies were immediate: Google initially threatened to block its services in Australia. A rather controversial decision, which ended up being abandoned, since the company opted for some Australian media.
For its part, the company took much more drastic measures in the matter. As indicated, this law goes against the relationship maintained between them and the media, where these are the most benefited. According to Easton, both platforms have presented a different response, due to the essential difference between their relationships with the media.
«This debate has focused on US tech companies and how they benefit from news content on their services. We understand that many may wonder why platforms might respond differently. The answer is that our platforms have fundamentally different relationships to news. Google search is inextricably intertwined with news, and publishers don’t volunteer their content. Secondlypublishers voluntarily choose to publish news on Facebook, as it allows them to sell more subscriptions, grow your audiences and increase ad revenue»
Additionally, in his statement Facebook notes that its earnings from news are minimal, only 4%. With this he seeks to support his assertion that the business relationship with the media is tilted in their favor.
What consequences could this decision bring?
On the other hand, the Australian Treasurer commented at the time that was in dialogue with Mark Zuckerberg about this situation.
Today I had a further conversation with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
We talked through their remaining issues & agreed our respective teams would work through them immediately. We’ll talk again over the weekend.
I reiterated Australia remains committed to implementing the code.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg)
Similar situations had already arisen in Europe, where Search engines are expected to pay media outlets for news links.
However, the extremes presented in Australia had not been reached. In the same way, in an era where the fight against misinformation is constant, especially on platforms like Facebook.
And the waters returned to their course
As a result of all the commotion generated in recent days, the australian government will tweak the laws that require the social network to pay the media for the publication of its content.
The new amendments introduced establish the elements that will be valued for decide which platforms should be subject to the Code. In this sense, the contribution of each of them to the sustainability of the Australian media industry will be taken into account through commercial agreements with companies in the sector.
In response, Facebook has promised this Tuesday, February 23, to lift in the coming days the blocking of news to the approximately 18 million users you have in Australia, just four days after applying it without notice.
Google, in turn, already agreed a few days ago with News Corpthe giant owned by Rupert Murdoch, for the material distributed by many of the newspapers of his empire, including: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The Times, and other publications in Australia such as The Australian or Sky News .
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