Facebook owner Meta (META.O), opens new tab is considering blocking news content from the platform in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees, a company representative told a parliamentary hearing on Friday.
Facebook owner Meta (META.O), opens new tab is considering blocking news content from the platform in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees, a company representative told a parliamentary hearing on Friday.
Meta's regional policy director Mia Garlick told lawmakers "all options are on the table" when asked if the company would block Australians from sharing news content to avoid paying fees.
"There's a large number of channels that people can get news content from," Garlick told the inquiry.
Facebook owner Meta (META.O), opens new tab is considering blocking news content from the platform in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees, a company representative told a parliamentary hearing on Friday.
Meta's regional policy director Mia Garlick told lawmakers "all options are on the table" when asked if the company would block Australians from sharing news content to avoid paying fees.
"There's a large number of channels that people can get news content from," Garlick told the inquiry.
It now falls on Australia's assistant treasurer to decide whether to step in and force Facebook to pay for news content. The assistant treasurer has said he is still collecting advice but that Meta seems to respect the law only when it suits.
Australia's two largest free-to-air television broadcasters, Nine Entertainment (NEC.AX), opens new tab and Seven West Media (SWM.AX), opens new tab, meanwhile said this week they were cutting jobs, citing loss of revenue once their deals with Meta expire.
Asked on Friday if blocking news from Facebook in Australia would amount to sidestepping the law, Meta's Garlick said taking that action would be complying with it.
"Every other law - tax laws, safety laws, privacy laws - we work to comply with," she said. "It's just compliance would look slightly different in relation to this law if it's fully enacted."
Garlick defended Meta's processes for Australians to complain if they believed the company was spreading harmful misinformation or scams, although she said its content moderation centres were all in other countries.
Asked about Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, who is suing Meta for showing cryptocurrency scam advertisements featuring his face, Garlick said the company had processes in place to detect and stop scams, but "there are a lot of challenges".
How could Meta call itself an advertising business when "some ads sell lies", asked Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
"We have policies and systems and tools to do everything we can to prevent those ads," Garlick replied.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from Reuters)
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