Following discussions between Facebook and the Australian Government, the platform social networking will restore news pages in the country. The two sides agreed on changes in a programmed media code that the company said would allow it to maintain more control over what appears on its platform.
The announcement comes after months of intense controversy between the American technology company and Canberra in Australia, which is working on a legislation which will force technology platforms to pay publishers for news content.
The initial version of the legislation would allow the media to negotiate, either individually or collectively with Facebook and Google and introduce binding "arbitration" if the two parties could not reach an agreement.
On Tuesday, the Australian government said it would amend it code, to include a provision which “should consider whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the viability of the Australian news industry by reaching trade agreements with media companies".
Arbitration, meanwhile, will now only be used as a "last resort" after a period of mediation.
"The government has clarified that we will retain the ability to decide whether they will appear news on Facebook, so that we do not automatically enter into forced trading", Said in a statement the Campbell Brown, Facebook Vice President for Global News Collaborations.
He said that the agreement "will allow us to support the publishers we choose, including small and local publishers", Adding that the company"will restore Facebook news in Australia in the coming days".
Last week, Facebook banned Australians from finding or sharing news on service of. The ruling - which appears to be the most restrictive move the company has ever made against content publishers - forced pages media organizations and even some irrelevant basic services to stop.
Facebook's decision to restore the news came as the Australian Senate debated the latest media law review.
"It has always been our intention to support journalism in Australia and around the world, and we will continue to invest in global news and resist the efforts of multimedia groups to promote regulatory frameworks that do not take into account the actual exchange of value between publishers and platforms. like FacebookSaid Brown.
Google, meanwhile, had already tried to move forward with the new legislation by announcing collaborations with some of the largest media organizations in the country, including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NWS) and Seven West Media. Facebook revealed its own deal with Seven on Tuesday.
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