The social network owned by Silicon Valley tech giant Meta
was lobbying to weaken a proposed law requiring it to pay news providers in
Australia when it blocked all such content from its platform in February 2021.
But the algorithm also blocked other websites in what the
company maintained was an accident, telling AFP on Friday that "any
suggestion to the contrary is categorically and obviously false."
"We intended to exempt Australian government pages from
restrictions in an effort to minimise the impact of this misguided and harmful
legislation," a Meta spokesperson said.
"When we were unable to do so as intended due to a
technical error, we apologised and worked to correct it."
However, US-based organisation Whistleblower Aid alleged it
was actually a Meta ploy in filings with the US Department of Justice and the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, first reported in the Wall
Street Journal on Thursday.
The organisation said in a statement that Facebook's
five-day blackout of news content providers had deliberately
"overblocked" local governments, health services and other sites that
were providing support for vulnerable people.
The intention was to force the government to weaken the
proposed law, the group said.
"This wasn't just an example of a corporate actor
behaving recklessly," said Whistleblower Aid chief Libby Liu.
"Facebook intentionally put lives at risk to protect
its bottom line."
Shortly after the blackout, Australia passed a law forcing Facebook to negotiate with news content providers, but politicians watered down some of the most onerous proposals.
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