SYDNEY (Reuters) – Facebook owner Meta is considering blocking news content on the platform if the Australian government requires it to pay a license fee, a company representative told a parliamentary hearing on Friday. .
Asked whether the company would prevent Australians from sharing news content to avoid paying fees, Meta’s regional policy director Mia Garlick told lawmakers “all options are on the table”.
“People get news content through many channels,” Garlick said in the survey.
She said Meta was waiting for Canberra to decide whether to apply an untested 2021 law that gives the government the power to set link fees paid by U.S. tech giants to media outlets.
The comments are the strongest indication yet that Meta will take the same tough approach in Australia as it did when similar laws were introduced in Canada in 2023.
Meta had agreements with Australian media companies including News Corp (NASDAQ: ) and the ABC when the law was introduced in Australia, but has since said it would not renew those arrangements beyond 2024.
Now Australia’s assistant treasurer needs to decide whether to step in and force Facebook to pay for news content. The assistant treasurer said he was still gathering suggestions, but Meta seemed to respect the law only when it was appropriate.
When asked whether blocking Facebook news in Australia amounted to circumventing the law, Gallick said taking this action amounted to complying with the law.
“We try to comply with all other laws – tax laws, security laws, privacy laws,” she said. “Compliance will look slightly different compared to this law if it had been fully enacted.”
Garlick defended Meta’s process for Australians to complain if they believe the company is spreading harmful misinformation or scams, although she said its content moderation centers were in other countries.
Asked about Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, Garlick said the company had processes in place to detect and stop fraud but “there are a lot of challenges”.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked how could Meta call itself an advertising agency when “some ads peddle lies”?
“We have policies, systems and tools to do everything we can to stop these ads,” Garlick responded.
