Facebook to block news on Australian sites after new law, riling lawmakers

Fair said Facebook’s plan amounted to ‘bullying’ and that the US firm would ‘say and do anything to avoid making a fair payment for news content’. — Reuters

SYDNEY: Facebook Inc on Sept 1 said it would stop Australians sharing news content on its platforms if a proposal to make it pay local media outlets for their content becomes law, further escalating tension with the Australian government.

Under Australia’s closely watched Internet reforms, the country will become the first to make the social media behemoth and Alphabet Inc’s Google pay for news sourced from local providers under a royalty-style system.