Facebook Declines to Pay Australian Government and Media

Facebook, recently refused the calls of the Australian government and media to pay advertising revenue. Australian authorities have called the company to share a cut of its revenue from news outlets.

The California-based social media platform suggested that it rather cut its news content from the country. According to the American company, the news only represents a “very small fraction” of an average consumer’s content.

The tech giant said there won’t be any significant change to its revenue if it eliminates news from Australian media. Adding that its confident that the community metrics won’t also have significant changes.

Facebook expressed that it values news publishers, saying that it prefers to continue enabling news publishers in the platform.

Technology news reports all over the world have watched how Australia tries forcing social media outlets to pay revenue.  The authorities seek to get a share from advertising revenue that the platforms earn from news reports featured.

 Two of the country’s biggest news outlets, Nine Entertainment and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp pushed the move.

The two companies argue that the struggle of news outlets across the world is rooted in social media platforms. Furthermore, adding that Facebook and Google do not share their advertising revenues hurt media companies.

The unfair compensation for the media has added weight to the already struggling news industry.

The global coronavirus pandemic further reinforced the existing problem. Small and local news outlets forcefully filed for bankruptcy thanks to the coronavirus.

Businesses have pulled back their advertisements from traditional media which ultimately forced companies to cut expenses. Numerous employees were laid off as the economic slump gets deeper and deeper.

Additionally, critics believe that modern technology is helping destroy traditional media, rather than helping it.

Google’s Rejection

Facebook isn’t the only tech company that refused to pay the Australian authorities their advertising revenues. Google has initially refused to pay the Australian government and medias’ demand.

Last month, Alphabet’s creation said that it barely even makes $10 million in advertising revenues from news content.

Moreover, Australia isn’t the only country that’s looking to generate funds from social media giants. Government officials from the Philippines have also recently proposed a plan to tax social media and technology giants.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda is pushing taxation of digital services from platforms such as Netflix in the Philippines. According to local reports, Salceda wants to call the new tax measures as “Facebook ads tax” and “Netflix tax.”