Facebook has decided to reverse its sweeping ban on news content in Australia after the tech giant and the federal government agreed to amendments to the impending media payment law.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Australian government have been engaged in 11th-hour discussions since the ban came into place last Thursday.
By Tuesday Eastern Standard Time, a deal was finally brokered.
“These amendments will provide further clarity to digital platforms and news media businesses about the way the Code is intended to operate …” they said.
Some amendments include giving companies one month notice before they were designated as coming under the ambit of the News Media Bargaining Code and extending the amount of time for mediation between parties.
Last week, Facebook made good on a threat to pull news content from its platform in response to the Australian government’s News Media Bargaining Code.
Parties are given a three-month period to negotiate. However, if negotiations stall, the matter can be taken to an independent arbitrator.
The arbitrator has the authority to mandate an agreement via “baseball arbitration.” This means both parties submit their best offers, and one will be selected.
The ban removed all news-related content from its platform in Australia and prevented users from sharing it.
The Facebook pages of mainstream media outlets were also shut down, including the ABC, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, and The Epoch Times.
Campbell Brown, Facebook’s VP of Global News Partnerships, said the tech giant was pleased to have reached an agreement with the Australian government.
“As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days,” he added.
The ban caused major disruption across Australia with the accounts of several non-media Facebook pages, including non-profit organisations, unions, businesses, emergency services, the weather bureau, and government departments.
Australia has been at the forefront of the world push on how to regulate Big Tech better. Currently, Canada has announced that it is now considering similar legislation to Australia, while Microsoft has encouraged European and U.S. regulators to adopt the law.