The announcement culminates a month of bitter dispute between the American technology firm and Canberra, which had been working on legislation that would force technology platforms to pay news publishers for content.
The agreement “will allow us to support publishers of our choice, including small and local publishers,” said Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president of global news partnerships, in a statement. He added that the company was “restoring news to Facebook in Australia in the coming days.”
Facebook has informed the government of its decision, according to Australian Communications Minister Paul Fletcher.
The announcement also came as the Australian Senate discussed the latest version of the media law, which was first introduced last summer.
On Tuesday, the Australian government said it would amend the code to include a provision that “must take into account whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through trade agreements with news media companies. “, among others. measurements.
“The government has clarified that we will retain the ability to decide whether the news appears on Facebook so that we are not automatically subjected to forced negotiation,” said Brown of Facebook. “It has always been our intention to support journalism in Australia and around the world, and we will continue to invest in news globally and resist efforts by media conglomerates to promote regulatory frameworks that do not take into account the true exchange of value between publishers. and platforms like Facebook “.
– Kerry Flynn contributed to this report.