Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has revealed the Australian government “weren’t given any notice by Facebook” ahead of its bombshell news ban.

Fronting the media on Thursday afternoon just hours after the ban on Australian news content, the Treasurer expressed his anger at the move.

“Facebook was wrong. Facebook’s actions were unnecessary, they were heavy-handed, and they will damage its reputation here in Australia,” he said.

“Their decision to block Australians’ access to government sites – be they about support through the pandemic, mental health, emergency services, the Bureau of Meteorology – were completely unrelated to the media code which is yet to pass through the Senate.

 “But what today’s events do confirm for all Australians is the immense market power of these media digital giants. These digital giants loom very, very large in our economy and on the digital landscape.

“The Morrison Government remains absolutely committed to legislating and implementing the code.”

The stunning decision was made in retaliation to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law, with the federal government pushing forward with a plan to force social media giants to pay for news content.

But despite Facebook’s drastic move, Mr Frydenberg said the government was sticking to its guns.

“This digital code, this new media bargaining code, is very important micro-economic reform. It’s one that was initiated by the Prime Minister when he was then treasurer,” he said.

“So, we will look at their actions today. We’ll hear from them in the coming days. And we’ll see if we can find a pathway forward. But the Morrison Government’s position is very clear. “We will legislate this code. We want the digital giants paying traditional news media businesses for generating original journalistic content. This is critical to sustaining public interest journalism in this country, and this is world-leading.”

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher also criticised Facebook’s stance.

“We have been very clear all the way along that we certainly want Google and Facebook to stay in Australia, continue to be important parts of the digital economy here, but at the same time if you’re doing business in Australia you need to comply with the laws made by the elected Australian Parliament,” he said.

“We welcome … reports of agreements reached between Google and three Australian news media businesses, and the fact that, as we understand it, there are other discussions occurring. “And I certainly endorse what the Treasurer has said about this very unfortunate decision by Facebook. What they’re effectively saying to Australians is, ‘You will not find content on our platform which comes from an organisation which employs professional journalists, which has editorial policies, which has fact-checking processes’.”

Mr Fletcher said it was a “surprising decision” and one that was “unlikely to be in the long term interest of their brand”.

“And, of course, the community impact of this is very significant,” he added.

“The fact that there are organisations like state health departments, fire and emergency services and so on who have had their Facebook pages blocked – that’s a public safety issue. “I’ve spoken to Facebook this morning and said the Government expects them to restore those pages as quickly as possible. There is great responsibility that comes with being a platform that, as the digital platforms inquiry said, that has over 17 million Australians visit it every month.”

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has claimed that while Facebook’s “arrogance” over the Australian news ban is shocking, another move in the pipeline by the tech giant could have even more devastating consequences.

“Facebook’s arrogance isn’t restricted to their decision to ban Australian news,” he tweeted today.

“Their push for end-to-end encryption will make it easier for paedophiles to share child sexual exploitation material. @MissingKids estimates reporting of child sexual abuse will decrease by up to 50%.”

He is referring to Facebook’s push for end-to-end encryption on all its messaging services, which is touted as a means of boosting users’ privacy levels.

However, experts and politicians across the globe have long voiced the serious concern the change will prevent investigators from recovering online conversations between criminals, making it harder to catch and convict them.

Authorities are especially concerned that the change would be abused by terrorists and paedophiles.

text by Alexis Carey, news.com.au