Josh Frydenberg said he’s not intimidated by Google’s threats to pull Search from Australia, either.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has revealed that he spoke directly with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the Media Bargaining Code that is making its way to law down under, saying the social media chief didn’t convince him to back down. “Last week, the minister Paul Fletcher and I had a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook who reached out to talk about the code and the impact on Facebook,” Frydenberg said, speaking on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday. “They do [take it seriously]… it was a very constructive discussion. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t convince me to back down.” See also: NZ Privacy Commissioner labels Facebook as ‘morally bankrupt pathological liars’ Frydenberg in April last year directed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to develop a mandatory code of conduct to address bargaining power imbalances between digital platforms and media companies. Despite testimony to the contrary from both Facebook and Google, at the time, Frydenberg said ACCC intervention was required because the tech giants had not made progress on developing their own solution. Facebook and Google have been engaged in a stoush with the ACCC since August over the code.
