Meta’s decision to stop paying for news content has angered Australia

Meta Platforms has ended its payment to Australian news publishers for Facebook content, sparking a legal dispute with Canberra, the world leader in internet licensing agreements.

Meta Platforms announced that it would no longer be paying Australian news publishers for content that appears on Facebook, igniting a new legal dispute with Canberra, which is the world leader in the implementation of laws requiring internet firms to negotiate licensing agreements.

News organizations and governments, such as the Australian government, have contended that Facebook and Google unjustly profit from links to news stories that are shown on their platforms. News links are now only a small portion of users’ feeds, according to Meta, which has been reducing the amount of news and political content it promotes to increase traffic.

According to a statement, Meta will stop promoting news on Facebook in Australia and the US. It also noted that it did the same thing in the UK, France, and Germany last year.

According to the statement, they will not launch new Facebook products, especially for news publishers or enter into new commercial agreements for conventional news content in these nations.

The ruling places Meta up against the Australian government, which, in accordance with a 2021 rule that Meta opposes, has the authority to choose a mediator who sets the price that large digital companies must pay for news links.

They further stated that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, an antitrust regulator, and the Treasury Department were being consulted by the government over its next course of action.

The largest media sources in the nation criticized the choice, branding it an assault on the sector.