'Australian Facebook users are being held to ransom as a tactic to intimidate the Australian government into backing down on this issue,' she said in a statement. firm would 'say and do anything to avoid making a fair payment for news content'. 'As the ACCC and the Government work to finalise the draft legislation, we hope all parties will engage in constructive discussions,' Sims said in a statement.īridget Fair, chief executive of Free TV Australia, a lobby group for free-to-air broadcasters, said Facebook's plan amounted to 'bullying' and that the U.S. 'We don't respond to coercion or heavy handed threats wherever they come from,' Frydenberg said in an emailed response to Reuters' request for comment.Īustralian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chair Rod Sims, who is overseeing the proposed law, said Facebook's response was 'ill-timed and misconceived', and that the proposal 'simply aims to bring fairness and transparency to Facebook and Google's relationships with Australian news media businesses'.
