Australia’s prime minister on Thursday slammed Facebook’s “arrogant,” retaliatory move to yank news content from its site — as he and other leaders refused to bow to pressure from Silicon Valley.
“Facebook’s actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing,” PM Scott Morrison wrote on his own Facebook page.
The prime minister tore into Facebook the same day the social media giant issued an immediate ban on media content across its platform down under — resulting in emergency services and government pages, including the Queensland and South Australia state health departments, also going dark.
The sweeping move — which came without warning — was in response to legislation passed by the House of Representatives that would make Facebook and Google negotiate with media companies and pay for news content that gets distributed on their sites.
The bill is headed for a vote in the Senate
