Facebook Rejects Australia's New Rules Regarding Rewards For News Publication

JAKARTA - Facebook rejects the new rules issued by the Australian government regarding the distribution of commissions or rewards for publishing news content. The social media giant has threatened to block Australian news content on its platform if the rule is enforced.

Launching an NBC News report, Tuesday, September 1, the new rules will force both Facebook and Google to give news outlets a bigger cut of digital advertising revenue. The new rules were put in place by the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission (ACCC) and have received support from media associations there.

Since late last year, the Australian government has been in talks with Facebook and Google over voluntary agreements with media companies to use their content. Where, the Asutralia business competition commission asked for a fair payment for media journalists.

"Removing the news completely or accepting a system that allows publishers to charge us for as much content as they want, at a price without clear boundaries. Unfortunately, no business can operate that way," said Facebook Head of Global News Partnership, Campbell Brown.

In fact, Facebook's decision to deprive users of the ability to share news could have a bigger effect on its reputation, especially if other countries follow Australian rules. However, Mark Zuckerberg's social network doesn't care about that.

News organizations around the world have long been annoyed by Facebook and Google's takeover of the digital advertising industry. The two companies account for more than half of annual digital ad revenue in the US, and more than 70 percent in Australia.

This keeps publishers from earning the same amount, even as their content reaches a larger audience. In recent years, European countries have tried and largely failed to force social media platforms to pay to publishers.

For example, Spain has requested through law in 2014 by forcing Google to pay for news that is featured in the headlines of Google News, but Google has instead removed the Spanish news outlets, which dealt a major blow to the national news industry. Likewise, France and Germany have also tried and failed to get Google to give up.

Previously, Google has sent an open letter to the Australian government regarding the plan to enforce the revenue sharing rules. Where it will interfere with the free services Google has provided for content publication.