Facebook under fire over move to 'bully democracy' in Australia
by Archie Bland, Amanda Meade and Victoria Bekiempis from Technology | The Guardian on (#5EC1R)
Politicians and news providers in UK and US condemn site after blocking access to media content
Politicians, news providers and civil society groups in the UK and US have rounded on Facebook and said the company's decision to block all media content on its platform in Australia should hasten moves to bring its powers under control.
In a step condemned as an attempt to bully a democracy" and threatening to bring an entire country to its knees", Facebook stopped its 18 million Australian users from viewing or sharing news stories overnight in an escalating row over whether it should have to pay media companies for its content. It said the new rules ignore the realities" of its relationship with news publishers.
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