Facebook has come good on their threats to ban Australian news content from their platform after days, weeks and years of argy-bargy with the Australian government.
"In response to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law, Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content," Facebook said in a statement today.
While some Facebook users claim they are still able to share and view content, others have received pop up messages preventing them from posting news content.
Treasurer Josh Frydenburg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher have this morning confirmed they will continue to push forward with the controversial legislation.
In April 2020 the federal government instructed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate the perceived power and bargaining imbalance between global internet giants Facebook and Google and Australian media companies.
The investigation is mostly about advertising revenue previously flowing to media companies that have since diverted online in the digital revolution.
In July last year, the ACCC released draft findings triggering Google and Facebook to rear up and threaten to leave Australia altogether.
Small independent media companies are likely to be most affected because they don't have the power to negotiate their own deal like some major players have done with Google over the past few days.
We hope you will still join us on the airwaves and our website if we get cut off from connecting to our beloved audience on Facebook.