Facebook to stop news sharing in Australia if new rules apply

In a statement on services in Australia, Facebook has declared that it will stop news sharing, if the Australian News Bargaining Code is adopted. The draft of the Australian News Bargaining Code aims at balancing the power between large tech companies (specifically Facebook and Google) and the Australian media publishers in negotiations over compensation. Facebook claims that they  ‘… are left with a choice of either removing news entirely or accepting a system that lets publishers charge us for as much content as they want at a price with no clear limits’. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Australian media companies have supported the proposed regulation, saying it will prevent social media giants from walking away from negotiations over payment.