Facebook is hitting the undo button on its sweeping cockblock of Australian news media after striking up a deal with Canberra.
It follows three tumultuous days down under that saw thousands of content creators’ pages wiped clean; a blank feed with the words “no posts yet” instead etched into their nightmares. Even music festivals weren’t immune.
Now though, the social media colossus will begin walking back its blanket ban on Aussie news content after the Australian Government caved in and conceded to make some amendments to its new laws, which force major tech giants to pay news outlets for their words.
“The government has been advised by Facebook that it intends to restore Australian news pages in the coming days,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Comms Minister Paul Fletcher announced this arvo (via the ABC).
“Facebook is now going to engage good faith negotiations with the commercial players,” Frydo added. “They are pretty advanced with a number of parties.”
In its own statement, Facebook professed that it was “pleased” the company was able to reach an agreement with the Commonwealth.
“[We] appreciate the constructive discussions we’ve had with Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister Fletcher over the past week,” the sentient tech behemoth said.
“After further discussions, we are satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognise the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them.
“As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days.”
Until the Zuck-block officially lifts, here’s how to stay up to date with Music Feeds while Facebook has banned us.
