Meta says it will no longer pay for news in Australia, Germany and France

SYDNEY –

Meta mentioned on Friday it won’t enter into new industrial offers for conventional news content material in Australia, France and Germany.

“Additionally, to ensure that we continue to invest in products and services that drive user engagement, we will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content in these countries and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future,” Meta mentioned in an announcement.

The proprietor of Facebook has oft been at loggerheads with Australia over a requirement for it to pay publishers for news content material.

“Meta’s decision to no longer pay for news content in a number of jurisdictions represents a dereliction of its commitment to the sustainability of Australian news media,” Australia’s assistant treasurer Stephen Jones mentioned in an announcement.

The authorities is in search of recommendation from the Treasury and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission on its subsequent steps, he added.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)