Facebook Australia news ban 'bullying', says UK MP

Facebook's decision to block news content from its platform in Australia was "bullying" and "staggeringly irresponsible", the chairman of the Commons media committee has said.

Conservative MP Julian Knight told the BBC the move represented "the worst type of corporate culture", coming in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

Facebook was responding to a proposed law requiring it pay for news content.

The UK News Media Association said stricter regulation might be required.

Australians on Thursday woke up to find that Facebook pages of all local and global news sites were unavailable. People outside the country are also unable to read or access any Australian news publications on the platform.

Facebook says the proposed legislation "fundamentally misunderstands" the relationship between the platform and publishers, adding that its commitment to combat misinformation had not changed.

Mr Knight, who chairs the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee, told Radio 4's PM programme it was a "crass move" by the company.

He said: "I think it's staggeringly irresponsible - at a time when we are facing a plethora of fake news and disinformation in relation to the Covid vaccine."

Mr Knight added: "This is not just about Australia. This is Facebook putting a marker down, saying to the world that 'if you do wish to limit our powers… we can remove what is for many people a utility.'"

He said the events highlighted the need for competition rules to apply to social media firms in the UK, adding: "The problem that I see is... that these platforms make enormous sums of money, and they make them from other people's work, and they aren't returning any equitable value to those people."

Search giant Google is also opposed to the Australian law, but it has in recent days signed payment deals with major media outlets in the country.

In the UK, Facebook has agreed partnership deals with publishers including the Daily Mail Group, Financial Times, the Guardian, Sky News and Telegraph Media Group. And the Competition and Markets Authority has announced it will enforce a new code aimed at preventing tech firms from abusing their market dominance over advertising.

But in a statement, Henry Faure Walker, chairman of the News Media Association which represents UK media organisations, echoed Mr Knight's comments, describing Facebook's ban as "a classic example of a monopoly power being the school yard bully, trying to protect its dominant position with scant regard for the citizens and customers it supposedly serves".

He said: "Facebook's actions in Australia demonstrate precisely why we need jurisdictions across the globe, including the UK, to coordinate to deliver robust regulation to create a truly level playing field between the tech giants and news publishers."

The Guardian Media Group also said it was deeply concerned by Facebook's move "at a time when facts and clarity are sorely needed".

A spokesman for the company said: "Dominant online platforms are now a key gateway to news and information online.

"We believe that public interest journalism should be as widely available as possible in order to have a healthy functioning democracy."