In February, Australia led the world with its competition-based law requiring Facebook and Google to reach a compensation agreement with media firms regarding the use of copyrighted news material on social media. While the ensuing stoush resulted in Facebook “de-friending” Australia for a day — along with acrimonious bargaining in the public domain as Australia’s media giants faced off with the online behemoths — agreements that “de-fanged” the issue were ultimately reached. While the level of payments remains mostly undisclosed, major news media firms such as Seven West Media (covering 21 publications) and News Corp (which owns numerous publications along with multimedia platforms news.com.au and Sky News Australia) quickly came to terms with Facebook and Google that satisfied the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the regulatory body at hand).
Australia stands alone again in social media content rulings | American Enterprise Institute – AEI