The Senate passed the Bill with amendments put forward by the Treasurer, paving the way for Facebook to return news to its platform.
The Senate on Wednesday agreed to the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021, essentially giving effect to the media bargaining code that saw Facebook pull news from Australia, before it promised to restore it thanks to amendments put forward by the Treasurer. As a result of the amended Media Bargaining Code receiving bipartisan support and officially passing both Houses on Thursday, Facebook said it looked forward to « agreeing to new deals with publishers and enabling Australians to share news links once again ». In a post penned by VP of global affairs Nick Clegg, Facebook took the opportunity to explain to its users what had happened, with many users unaware the social media giant, alongside Google, had been engaged in a stoush with the Australian government for many months on the code. Facebook had actually warned it might pull news from its platform six months ago and Google threatened to remove its search engine in Australia back in January. « Many people are rightly asking: What on Earth was all that about? » the post says. « At the heart of it, in Facebook’s view, is a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Facebook and news publishers. » Facebook said it’s the publishers themselves who choose to share their stories on social media, or make them available to be shared by others, because they get value from doing so. « That’s why they have buttons on their sites encouraging readers to share them.
