Facebook agreed to reverse ban on Australian news sites

Facebook will walk back its block on Australian news sites, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher have said, after a backlash to its response to proposed media bargaining laws that would force major tech giants to pay news outlets for their content.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg finalised the agreement on Tuesday morning, according to industry sources.

Facebook said it was restoring news content after the government agreed to amend the code. 

“The government has been advised by Facebook that it intends to restore Australian news pages in the coming days,” a statement from the ministers said on Tuesday morning.

In the statement, Mr Frydenberg and Mr Fletcher said the government would make further amendments to the news media bargaining code.

Facebook said in a statement that it was “pleased” the company was able to reach an agreement with the government.

“[We] appreciate the constructive discussions we’ve had with Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister Fletcher over the past week,” it said.

“After further discussions, we are satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognise the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them.

“As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days.”

Last week Facebook stopped Australian users from sharing or posting news links in response to the code.