Arts & Entertainment

News Corp, Facebook reach news content agreement in Australia

Sydney, Australia, Mar 16 (efe-epa).- Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Tuesday said it had reached a news sharing deal with social media giant Facebook.

The company, headquartered in New York City, said in a statement that the agreement stipulated “access to trusted news and information to millions of Facebook users in Australia through its Facebook News product.”

The three-year deal comes after Facebook and the Australian government locked horns over a law that requires technology companies to pay local media outlets for the content they publish on their platforms.

Facebook imposed a ban on the publication of news on its platform in Australia for about eight days, which also affected several nonprofits and government agencies.

The social media platform lifted the ban on Feb.26 after reaching an agreement with the authorities.

News Corp is one of the largest media conglomerates in the country and controls about two-thirds of the newspaper circulation.

The company said the agreement included The Australian national newspaper, the news.com.au news site, and several regional and community publications.

“The agreement with Facebook is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses,” News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson said.

Thomson also thanked the Australian government for “taking a principled stand for publishers, small and large, rural and urban, and for Australia” and said the “digital denouement has been more than a decade in the making.”

News Corp further announced that Sky News Australia has also reached a new agreement with Facebook in parallel that “extends and significantly builds on an existing arrangement.”

Facebook reached agreements with major Australian publishing houses in February. EFE-EPA

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