The company is also building more support for outside subscriptions into the product, including an account-linking feature that allows subscribers to stay logged in to their news accounts while reading articles on Facebook.
As global regulators devise different strategies to rein in technology giants, companies are facing the complicated decision of modifying their products for different markets. European competition authorities have demanded changes — and Google has complied — for how Google directs users of its Android smartphone software to its own services. Google has also agreed to concessions in its search engine in Russia at the behest of regulators.
By taking aim at Google, whose dominant search engine is the gateway for information and news, and Facebook, the largest social network with billions of users, Australia’s regulator seeks to address what it calls “power imbalances” between news publishers struggling with the collapse of traditional media and conglomerates with thriving online ad businesses.
In a call with investment analysts in August, Robert Thomson, chief executive of the media giant News Corp, said the legislation in Australia was an “inflection point” for the internet.
“I can assure you that not only regulators but media companies around the world and the digital platforms are watching Australia closely,” he said.
Facebook said that the country’s regulators did not understand the relationship between news and social media, and that publishers benefited more from Facebook than the other way around.
“We want to pay for journalism — we believe in journalism and have demonstrated that,” said Campbell Brown, vice president of global news partnerships at Facebook, in an interview. “Our plan was to make real investments in news in Australia. But this is not a workable outcome.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/technology/facebook-block-news-stories-australia.html
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