OREANDA-NEWS. The administration of the social network Facebook held talks with the Australian authorities, after which it was decided to amend the bill requiring platforms to pay for media content. As a result, the news should return to the Australian part of the social network.

«Facebook has added Australia as a friend, and Australian news will be restored to the Facebook platform», the Australian Federal Treasurer said. The bill will be amended four times to change the mandatory arbitration mechanism used when tech giants fail to reach an agreement with publishers on fair payment for displaying news content. Facebook was pleased with these changes.

Vice president of the Facebook Global News Partnerships, Campbell Brown, said, that the government has further clarified, that we retain the ability to decide whether news appears on Facebook, so that we are not automatically subject to forced negotiations. The company will continue to invest in news content, but will resist «resisting the efforts of media conglomerates to develop a regulatory framework, that does not take into account the real exchange of values between publishers and platforms like Facebook», she said.

Earlier, the popular social network reported on the restriction of news publications in the online space of the island state, arguing, that the introduction of a new media code, which was supposed to protect local media companies, obliging platforms to pay for the displayed content of local media. After that, Facebook began blocking all news content in the Australian part of the social network, which led to a drop in local media traffic.

The Australian government first came into conflict with the platform: the country's Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment, Simon Birmingham, said that local authorities would abandon advertising campaigns on the social network. He accused the company of trying to demonstrate it's power and influence democracy.