Scott Morrison glad Facebook has ‘tentatively friended’ Australia again to talk about the media code

The prime minister said Facebook was pleased to “return to the table” for a debate over the Australian government’s media negotiation code, and a US tech giant “temporarily made us friends again.” Joke.

However, the company has shown no signs of retreat after banning access to news and information pages across Australia according to the code.

Simon Milner, a senior executive in Facebook Asia Pacific, was forced to apologize on Friday after the company accidentally banned access to accounts run by government agencies and the state health department.

This was done before the nationwide rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine from Monday.

Scott Morrison said he welcomed Milner’s apology on Saturday, adding that Facebook’s closure of public information accounts is undefendable.

“My job right now is to ensure that these discussions go on and succeed,” Morrison told reporters.

“The position of the Australian Government is very clear and people will know that strong international support is provided for Australia’s position.

“We are pleased that Facebook has tentatively made friends with us again and decided to resume those discussions … to ensure a free and democratic society in which we are supported. Can be continued by open news media to ensure the protection we want to implement. “

Facebook initially claimed that it had to close its health and emergency services page, and that the wording of the negotiation code was inadequate.

However, he then promised to revoke the ban on pages that were inadvertently affected.

Treasury Secretary Josh Frydenberg said on Friday that he was determined to persuade Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to accept the code. The pair speaks on Friday morning and again on the weekend.

The US social media giant first threatened to ban Australian news in August and repeated an ultimatum before the Senate investigation in January.

This ban prevents Australian users and publishers from viewing or sharing news, and foreign users from accessing Australian news.

“We discussed their remaining issues and each team agreed to resolve them soon,” Frydenberg said.

“Australia continued to work on implementing the code.

“This is about Australia’s sovereignty, about Australia’s enactment of law for Australians, and about the digital world, which duplicates the rules of the Internet and the rules of the real world.”

Frydenberg also called on other countries to support Australia in the quest to force digital giants to pay for locally produced news.

Morrison said leaders in India, Canada and the UK were eagerly watching Facebook’s reaction to the media code.

The media negotiation code is in front of the Senate after passing the House of Representatives.

Despite the Labor’s criticism of the government for handling negotiations with digital platforms, it is likely to clear parliament with bipartisan support.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said Facebook would have to pay for content to keep journalism alive, and that a ban on news content would damage their reputation.

At a parliamentary hearing on Friday, News Corp. executive chair Michael Miller and Nine CEO Humarks urged the government to stick to plans to enact media negotiation legislation.

Miller said the full impact of Facebook’s ban is not yet understood.

The US State Department said on Saturday that the dispute with Facebook in Australia was considered a private business issue for both parties.

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