On Wednesday, Facebook banned sharing of news on its platform. The pages of Meteorological Department, Emergency Department, Opposition Leader and Health Department also came in its grip. Since Thursday morning, people could not see the posting of links to Australian news articles or Facebook accounts of news companies from anywhere in the world. In fact, Facebook has taken this step in lieu of the government draft in which companies like Google and Facebook will have to pay money to media companies in exchange for the publication of news. Google and Facebook, which have an 81 percent stake in online advertising in Australia, have condemned the proposed law. Firepower, health and meteorological services across the country faced problems with their Facebook pages during several severe public emergencies. People have urged the company to resolve this issue soon. A Facebook spokesperson said that the official page “should not be affected by today’s announcement” and that the company will “restore any pages that were unintentionally affected.” Australian Environment Minister Susanne Le has confirmed the sudden stoppage of news content on Facebook. He has urged people to visit the website of the government department. At least three Australian states were posting updates on the Corona virus via Facebook, which have been affected by the ban. Many government pages in the capital Canberra have also been affected. Ellen Pearson, director of Human Rights Watch Australia, described Bain as a “worrying and dangerous” move. As part of Facebook’s move, pages related to charity, ethnic community and even Facebook blocked its own page. Facebook’s manager for Australia and New Zealand, William Easton, wrote in a blog post that the company “will prohibit publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content. Because the proposed legislation is fundamentally our platform and its use Misunderstands the relationship between publishers. Under Australia’s news media bargaining code, Facebook and Google will have to finalize a deal to pay media outlets for news content, or companies will be fined heavily. This rule was introduced in the Parliament of Australia in December last year. The government is hoping to implement the news media bargaining code before the current session of Parliament ends on February 25. Google also threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia when the proposed legislation was introduced in Parliament. According to some reports, Facebook and Google had earned Rs 11,500 crore through online advertising revenue from India in 2018-19. It is estimated that this market will increase in the coming year.
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