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Australians can read and share news on Facebook as pages are restored

Facebook has switched on Australian news pages after parliament this week passed the world’s first news media bargaining code to force tech giants to pay for content.

The New Daily‘s Facebook page was restored early on Friday as other Australian sites such as the ABC, Herald Sun, Seven Network and Sydney Morning Herald came back online.

Australian users can once again read and share news articles from the social media platform for the first time since Facebook blocked new organisations last Thursday.

A number of non-news pages were initially swept up in the ban, including community organisations, charities and the Bureau of Meteorology.

New media code

Australia’s world-first news media bargaining code will soon be in force after legislation cleared federal parliament on Thursday.

Google and Facebook signed deals with major news companies before the landmark negotiating rules were enshrined in law with changes made after negotiations with tech giants.

So far, large media organisations including News Corp and Nine have been the main beneficiaries of deals struck with the online behemoths.

Facebook, following in Google’s footsteps, says it plans to invest $US1 billion to “support the news industry” over the next three years.

The social networking giant says it has invested $US600 million since 2018 in news.

Google said in October it would pay publishers $US1 billion ($1.3 billion) over the next three years.

The two tech companies suck up the majority of US digital advertising dollars, which, among other problems, has hurt publishers.

There may be more such regulation in other countries.

Microsoft is working with European publishers to push big tech platforms to pay for news.

European Union countries are working on adopting copyright rules that allow news companies and publishers to negotiate payments.

-with AAP

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