Facebook takes an unprecedented step in Australia

For weeks, the debate has been raging in Australia between the local government and two of the largest companies in the digital world, Facebook and Google, as Australian lawmakers are preparing to launch a bill that will be unprecedented and will force Google and Facebook to give local news publishers a percentage of the revenues of the two companies From its activity in the Australian market.

The new bill was met with great rejection from both Google and Facebook, as Google threatened to leave Australian territory permanently, and therefore this may mean that the Google search engine will not be available for Australian users anymore in the event that Australian lawmakers decide to take this step, but Facebook took another, more strict decision, as the company decided to prevent Australian users from sharing and viewing the news published on local media on its platform in the country, and therefore they would not be allowed to share their news and articles on Facebook.

The debate raged for years, but it has increased in recent times between Google and Facebook on the one hand and the Australian authorities on the other hand about the eligibility of local news publishers from Australian electronic newspapers and websites to obtain the benefits of the appearance of their sites and their articles on private search results. The search engine Google and the social networking platform Facebook, which is rejected by the two companies, especially since the news coming from Australia indicates that this country is preparing to pass a special law for this purpose.

While indications appeared to soften Google's stance on this issue, especially after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussed with the Australian Prime Minister the prospect of Bing compensation for any possible withdrawal of Google from Australian territory, Facebook indicated that its position is different from Google, as She noted that publishers willingly choose to post news on Facebook, as it allows them to sell more subscriptions, increase their audience and increase ad revenue.