Privacy is a burning issue and after the new policy of WhatsApp, it became an area of concern for the citizens and the government of the country. Everyone is worried about privacy. The government is too concerned about it and the control the social media and technology has over humans. The Australian government passed a bill with regards to this and the Facebook is not ready to accept the new rules.
Facebook vs the Australian government:
The Australian Prime minister Scott Morrison and the Indian Prime minister had a discussion over a number of issues and one among them was the progress of the media platforms Bill. He then took it to Twitter to share express his gratitude. His tweet says “ Great to talk to my good friend PM @narendra Modi again. As comprehensive strategic partners, we can work together on common challenges including #Covid -19,the circular economy, ocean & an open, secure and prosperous Indo – Pacific. We also discussed the progress of our Media bills.
In 2017 the Australian Competition and consumer commission recommend a voluntary code which then became a bill in the year 2020 with some amendment. This bill required Google and Facebook to pay for the Australian Media content. Initially, both Google and Facebook didn’t accept the new laws but later on google agreed to pay for Australian media content but the laws still remain unacceptable for Facebook.
As a way to show it’s retaliation Facebook on Wednesday blocked media platforms and fire and emerging services, domestic violence charities, state health agencies and other organizations are too affected by the Facebook restrictions. After the restrictions, Facebook faced criticism from not only the Australian government and citizens but from the rest of the world.
Its been months now that the fight between Facebook and3 Australian government is not coming to an end or any kind of negotiations. Facebook is ready to pay as they said that they don’t steal news content form the Media platforms its they who voluntarily decide to share their content. The lawmaker have decided that no further amendment would be done to the bill and it should be passed in its current form.
The Facebook and Australian government battle is watched by the rest of the counties very closely as it’s a cause of concern for them to. On Saturday the a Facebook executive apologized for the companies mistakenly shutting down emergency-related pages and the pages relates to charities.
The government wants to come on the negotiation table with Facebook and as said my the Australian Prime minister they want to solve this issue together.
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