Let battle commence.... Australia takes on the tech giants

Australian Prime Minister has described Facebook's decision to block local and international newsfeeds from its site as "arrogant" and "disappointing". The world is watching as the The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) looks to introduce rules that will require the likes of Facebook and Google to pay publishers for the news stories that it publishes. With a signiifcant amount of individuals getting their news from the tech giants, the decision of Facebook brings it in direct conflict with the Australian Government.

View: the decision of the ACCC is welcome and long overdue. The tech giants have for too long being able to undermine the news media by providing access to news feeds without payment. Whilst Facebook et al argue that the news feeds help drive traffic to media websites, the reality is that they are effectively the de facto touch point for many individuals to obtain their news and it is neither right or fair that they should not pay for this information. Google have (rightly) reached an agreement with some publishers to pay for content whereas Facebook appear to be gearing up for a fight. We welcome the approach of the ACCC and hopefully we will see other countries including the UK follow suit....