Reaching a deal with the government, Facebook is about to reinstate news sharing in Australia

Facebook has reached an agreement with the Australian government and will reinstate information sharing on its news fanpages in the next few days.

The decision comes after the Australian government agreed to changes to the new media bill, which forces technology platforms to pay for news. According to the tech giant, these changes will allow them to retain greater control over what comes up on their platforms.

” Following the discussions, we are pleased that the Australian government has agreed to some of the changes and ensured that it will address our core concerns about,” Facebook said in its statement. enabling commercial agreements that recognize the value our platforms have to publishers are equal to the value we receive from them . ”

Changes in Australian bill

Under the original bill, if passed, would force digital platforms like Google and Facebook to pay local news agencies and publishers to share their content links on News Feeds. search results.

Under the amendments to the bill, the Australian government will review the trade deals these platforms made with local news outlets before deciding whether the new rules would apply to the giants. technology or not.

Additionally, the Australian government will notify these digital platforms a month before making a final decision.

The new changes also include a 2-month mediation deadline to allow digital platforms and publishers to reach agreements before they go to arbitral tribunal as a final resort.

The arbitration clause is also one of Facebook’s main objections to the bill. In the original bill, if the two sides could not reach an agreement, the arbitrators appointed by the government would be to decide the final price in favor of which party. With the new amendments, although the arbitration clause is still retained, but only considered as “the last resort” if the negotiation fails.

Seven West Media, one of Australia’s three largest media outlets, said it has signed a letter expressing its intention to provide news content to Facebook. Earlier this company also signed a similar agreement with Google.

Consult CNBC