Prime Minister Scott Morrison during questions in the House of Representatives on February 18, 2021 in Canberra, Australia.
Sam Mooy | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Facebook has returned to the negotiating table, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday, after the technology giant blocked the news from its website in the country this week.
Facebook’s abrupt decision to stop Australians from sharing news on the site and undressing the pages of domestic and foreign media has also wiped out several state government and emergency department accounts, sparking widespread anger.
The company “befriended us again,” Morrison told a news conference in Sydney. “Which makes me happy that Facebook is back on the table.”
Facebook has not publicly stated any changes in its opposition to a proposed law that requires social media platforms to pay for links to news content. Morrison was not asked about this.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Friday that he had spoken with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and that further talks would be expected over the weekend. It was unclear whether these talks took place.
Representatives for Frydenberg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The conflict comes as Australia promises to continue with benchmark legislation, which could set a global precedent as countries like Canada express interest in taking similar action.
The Australian law, which would force Google and Google Alphabet to enter into commercial agreements with Australian publishers or face mandatory arbitration, has been approved by lower house of parliament and is expected to be passed by the Senate next week.
Simon Milner, Facebook’s Asia-Pacific policy director for the Asia-Pacific region, was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday that the company has three main objections to the legislation.
Facebook opposes banning discrimination between different news items that demand money, arbitrage models that allow an independent body to select one payment over another, and the obligation to enter into business negotiations with Australian media companies, Milner said.
Facebook declined to make Milner available to talk to Reuters.
Australian law is overseen abroad.
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Thursday that his country would adopt the Australian approach as it drafted its own legislation in the coming months.
Google, which initially threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia, has announced a number of precautionary licensing agreements in the past week, including a global deal with News Corp.
The Facebook move had an immediate impact on traffic to new Australian sites, according to the first data from the analysis company Chartbeat from New York.
Total traffic to Australian news sites on various platforms fell the day before the ban by about 13% in the country.