Facebook announced Thursday
that Australia will no longer view news on the social media app.
According to a report
by CNN, Facebook announced the decision to not allow users in
Australia to share news in response to proposed legislation in the country that
would force tech platforms to pay news publishers for content.
"What the proposed law
introduced in Australia fails to recognise is the fundamental nature of the
relationship between our platform and publishers," Campbell Brown,
Facebook's vice president of global news partnerships, wrote in a blog post.
"Contrary to what some
have suggested, Facebook does not steal news content. Publishers choose to
share their stories on Facebook. I hope in the future, we can include news for
people in Australia once again," Brown added.
According to CNN,
during a January hearing in Australia's senate, Facebook had suggested it could
block content in the country if the bill becomes law. -- ANI