Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Metro owner accuses Facebook of 'blackmail' over Australia news content row

Metro owner accuses Facebook of 'blackmail' over Australia news content row

The company which owns Metro, as well as other newspapers, has accused Facebook and Google of ‘blackmail’ over the news content row in Australia.

It comes after Facebook blocked news content on its service in Australia last week over a proposed new law that would have seen it and Google forced to pay publishers for news.

Pages on the social networking site appeared blank during the block.

After discussions with Facebook, Australia agreed to amend the bill – which passed in parliament on Thursday – and the social network agreed to lift the ban on sharing news.

In a letter to the Financial Times, Lord Rothermere, chairman of Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), said ‘politicians should be very worried’ about the incident.

It reads: ‘For years Google and Facebook have plundered news content without paying for it while at the same time extracting ever greater profits from advertising markets they dominate.


‘News publishers and governments have worked together to fight for fair treatment. In the UK, a new digital regulator is being set up; in Australia, parliament has been debating a law to force platforms to pay for content.

‘The platforms responded with blackmail. Google threatened to withdraw search in Australia; Facebook cancelled news. A nation was held to ransom – and it surrendered.

‘As long as the platforms persuade enough desperate news publishers to sign take-it-or-leave-it deals, there will now be no fair, independent arbitration.’

The full letter, headlined ‘Big Tech’s Australia deal imperils democracy’, can be read here.

On Wednesday, Facebook’s head of global affairs, Sir Nick Clegg, said the stand-off had been the result of a ‘fundamental misunderstanding’ of the relationship the firm had with news publishers.

He argued that the publishers choose to share their stories on social media because they ‘get value from doing so’.

In a blog on Facebook, he said: ‘If you click a link that’s shared on Facebook, you are directed off the platform to the publisher’s website. In this way, last year Facebook generated approximately 5.1 billion free referrals to Australian publishers worth an estimated AU$407 million to the news industry.’

Last week, Facebook blocked news appearing in Australia

Lord Rothermere wrote the letter to the Financial Times on behalf of DMGT


He added that Facebook’s opposition to the initial bill was around a proposed arbitration system, which Sir Nick claimed ‘deliberately misdescribes the relationship between publishers and Facebook’.

‘It’s like forcing carmakers to fund radio stations because people might listen to them in the car – and letting the stations set the price,’ he said.

But Lord Rothermere – whose company owns the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Mail Online, the i as well as Metro – said the Australian deal meant Facebook was setting its own rules.

Facebook has won the battle. It decides what news is read on social media and how much, if anything, it pays for it,’ he said, calling on governments to respond with tighter regulation.

‘Politicians everywhere have watched events in Australia with increasing alarm,’ he said. ‘Now they must ask themselves, who makes the rules?

‘Do the platforms decide what news the public can read in secret deals with the publishers they favour? Or will governments and regulators act with genuine resolve, to ensure fair and transparent treatment for all?’

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×