META Meta Platforms Inc

By Mike Cherney 

SYDNEY -- Marcey Papandrea spent more than 10 years cultivating a small following on Facebook to draw them toward her website -- called the Super Network -- where she posts movie reviews and podcasts. On Thursday morning, she woke at home in Melbourne to find her Facebook page blocked.

Ms. Papandrea had become collateral damage in a dispute between Facebook Inc. and the Australian government over payment for content. Facebook overnight had followed through on a threat to bar users in Australia from posting news. The move also cut off access to information such as the national weather service and some local health sites, though Facebook said that had been done inadvertently.

"I have no idea what Facebook's algorithm would be that someone like me would be targeted," said Ms. Papandrea, 36 years old, who blamed both Facebook and the government for the outcome. "At the end of the day, this is like a mudslinging contest."

Facebook opposes legislation by the Australian government that would effectively require big tech companies to pay the country's media outlets for content. The legislation, which is being watched globally and could offer a model for other governments to follow, is working its way through the country's parliament.

To Australian users, the Facebook pages belonging to media outlets in Australia and overseas -- including The Wall Street Journal -- appeared blank on Thursday with a message saying, "No posts yet." Users who tried to post a link to a news article got a notification saying the post couldn't be shared. Some people tried to find workarounds, such as posting screenshots of articles. Links could still be shared on Facebook's instant-messaging platform.

Facebook argues that the Australian government misunderstands the relationship between publishers and the company's social-media platforms, and it flagged last year it could ban news if the government followed through on its plan. Facebook and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, which would also be subject to the law, have argued that publishers benefit because links on Google and Facebook send users directly to news websites. Media companies, including News Corp, parent company of Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., say the tech giants have little incentive to negotiate paying for content because of their market power.

This week, News Corp said it has agreed to a multiyear partnership with Google to provide journalism from its news sites around the world in return for significant payments from the search giant. Google had previously joined Facebook in saying the Australian proposal set an unmanageable precedent, and had said it would possibly shut down its search engine in Australia as a result.

Other countries have sought to compel tech companies to pay publishers for news or otherwise rein in their market dominance. The tech giants are facing new rules in Europe and both Google and Facebook have been hit with antitrust lawsuits in the U.S., raising the possibility that each country or region could have its own rules.

"If it is not already clear, Facebook is not compatible with democracy," tweeted Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island who chairs the antitrust subcommittee in the House. "Threatening to bring an entire country to its knees to agree to Facebook's terms is the ultimate admission of monopoly power."

Facebook has said it recognizes news plays an important role in a democracy and has been willing to pay for news in other contexts. In 2019, it announced it would pay news organizations -- including the Journal -- to license their headlines and story summaries for a news service.

After some pages in Australia were blocked by mistake, including those belonging to government agencies, Facebook said it would fix any errors. But it also said that because the proposed law doesn't provide clear guidance on the definition of news content, the company took a broad view on what could be considered news.

Some public-health experts said they worried the move would deprive people of reliable information from news outlets just as the country starts rolling out its coronavirus vaccinations. Government officials said they had no advance notice of Facebook's plans. The health minister called it an attack on Australia's sovereignty.

"It's an interesting experiment," said Fiona Martin, an associate professor at the University of Sydney who studies digital journalism. "We can see the enormous power they have over our information ecosystem, just in what they've done today."

Ms. Martin said she didn't think Australians would immediately quit Facebook because the platform no longer includes news. But she said people's use of Facebook could decrease over time, noting Facebook's appeal has been that users could do multiple things on the platform, such as reading news, selling furniture or catching up with friends.

Max Loomes, a 25-year-old research assistant in Sydney, said he'll revert to an old strategy to stay informed and set the home page on his web browser to a newspaper's website.

"It's what my dad used to do," said Mr. Loomes, who previously would read news and share articles on Facebook multiple times a day. "I think I'll reduce my Facebook use quite substantially."

In Mount Gambier, a town in South Australia state, Josh Lynagh said he was surprised that his Facebook page, called Limestone Coast Community News, wasn't affected by the ban. Mr. Lynagh said he doesn't make any money from the page, where he posts community news items he finds himself and summarizes articles from other media. After the ban, he changed the page's category to community from news to try to keep his page unblocked.

Mr. Lynagh, 32 years old, said Facebook's early-morning announcement appeared intended to catch people off guard. He said it was reckless for Facebook to ban pages that clearly shouldn't have been included. On the other hand, Mr. Lynagh said he respected Facebook for not caving into government pressure.

"I don't understand why Facebook should be forced to pay media companies for them to be allowed to use the platform," he said. "To me, that makes no sense."

Across town, the local newspaper wasn't as lucky as Mr. Lynagh. Its page was blocked.

Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2021 08:02 ET (13:02 GMT)

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