Within days of stopping Australian publishers and residents from sharing news content, Facebook reversed the policy. Initially, Facebook stated, “Now we are going to prioritize investments for other countries as part of our plans to invest in new licensing news programs and experiences.”
In an update posted today, the company said:
After further discussions, we are pleased that the Australian government has agreed to a series of changes and guarantees that address our main concerns about enabling commercial agreements that recognize the value that our platform offers publishers in relation to the value we receive from them. As a result of these changes, we can now work to increase our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook to Australians in the coming days.
A few days ago, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that negotiations have resumed and that they appear to have made things right for now. According to news.com.au, Australian politicians have confirmed that changes will be added to the News Trading Code to “provide more clarity to digital platforms and news media companies about how the Code is intended to operate and strengthen the structure to ensure the news media businesses are highly paid. “According to New York Times, the changes include a two-month mediation period, which will give parties time to negotiate media deals that may mean that Facebook does not have to operate under the code.
In a separate statement, Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president of global partnerships, said: “In the future, the government has clarified that we will retain the ability to decide whether news will appear on Facebook so that we are not automatically subject to forced negotiation.”