Australian authorities chastise Meta after the internet giant announces it would no longer pay for journalism
Meta’s decision was denounced by two government officials as “a dereliction of its commitment to the sustainability of Australian news media.”
An emblem of the Meta brand in the Menlo Park, California, headquarters of the corporation.
a sign bearing the Meta emblem in the Menlo Park, California, headquarters of the corporation .
Facebook’s parent firm Meta announced on Thursday that it will no longer be compensating Australian news content creators. This announcement incited a fierce outcry from Canberra government officials.
In Australia, France, and Germany, Meta stated in a blog post that it “will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future” and that it “will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content.” The internet behemoth went on, “While we’ll be deprecating Facebook News in these countries, this announcement does not impact the terms under our existing Facebook News agreements with publishers” until those three nations’ expiration.
Along with announcing its intention to stop promoting news material on Facebook in Australia and the US, Meta also mentioned that it eliminated a similar function in the UK, France, and Germany last year.
Australian politicians harshly criticized the decision, claiming that Meta threatened to deprive news publishers of their income. One of the nations that has pushed Meta to pay news publishers the hardest is Australia. Australian Ministers Michelle Rowland for Communications and Stephen Jones for Financial Services denounced Meta’s action as “a dereliction of its commitment to the sustainability of Australian news media” in a joint statement. Partial quotes from Rowland and Jones were, “The Government has made its expectations clear.” “A major revenue stream for Australian news media companies is eliminated by the judgment. Fair pay for the information produced by Australian news providers is due.”