New law adopted by the Australian legislators led to certain restriction imposed by Facebook to the local users. They will no longer see the news sites reports in the timeline. Additionally news publishers are prevented from sharing their stories at the social media platform.

International media are therefore no longer visible for Australian users. Conversely, Facebook users outside Australia can no longer see news reports from Australian media.

The American company is taking the step because of the new Australian media law, which obliges Internet giants to enter into agreements with media companies. In practice, this would mean that companies like Google and Facebook would have to pay for displaying content from other companies. It is expected that the Australian Parliament will vote on the law in a few weeks ‘ time.

Facebook believes that the proposal “fundamentally misjudges the relationship between tech platforms and publishers.” The company says that last year, thanks to Facebook, Australian publishers made about 407 million Australian dollars, or about 250 million euros. But news sites, tv stations and newspapers feel that they are entitled to compensation, because their articles and videos generate revenue for platforms like Facebook.

Initially, Facebook also blocked government pages, including those of police and health services. Facebook messages from an unknown number of politicians, sports teams and charities were also missing. In a statement, Facebook said that it was a mistake and that work was being done on recovery.

Google signs agreements

At the end of last month, Google also threatened to intervene if Australia were to pass the new law. The company called the new law unworkable.

Today, Google did sign an agreement with News Corp. editor of a large number of Australian newspapers. Google has previously made similar deals with publishers in the UK, Germany, France, Brazil and Argentina.