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Hours after Facebook silenced all news publishers from his country on its platform, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday, 18 February, raised the issue with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, in an effort to stop the internet giant from “bullying” elected governments, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
Facebook’s action has sparked a major outrage in Australian political circles and Prime Minister Morrison hopes to receive the backing of global leaders in his country’s fight against the tech giant.
Describing Facebook’s effort to silence news, health and emergency services in the country from its platform as an attempt to “unfriend Australia,” Prime Minister Morrison said he was “in regular contact with the leaders of other nations on these issues.”
The developments unfolded after the Australian government proposed a law that forces social media platforms to pay publishers for using their content.
Facebook, in a blog post, defended its action stating the proposed Australian law “fails to recognize is the fundamental nature of the relationship between our platform and publishers.”
While several government-backed Facebook pages have been restored, many international media sites remained scrubbed, including outlets like The New York Times, BBC, and News Corp’s Wall Street Journal.
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