Facebook’s Australia Face-Off Could Backfire Across the Globe
- Company faces potential domino effect if it concedes
- Microsoft and others have expressed support for Australian way
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Facebook Inc.’s dramatic move to block Australian news sharing escalated a broader battle against global regulation. That gambit looks likely to backfire.
World leaders were already watching Australian legislation expected to pass next week that will force tech titans Facebook and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to pay publishers for news content. But this week’s abrupt news blackout forced the issue onto the agenda of governments whose regulators are already ramping up scrutiny of the growing influence of Facebook and its ilk in spheres from media to artificial intelligence.