Page 6 - aruba-today-Sept 2 2020

A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 2 september 2020
Facebook threatens to block news distribution in Australia

By DAVID HAMILTON and terest. We don't respond to
ROD McGUIRK coercion or heavy hand-
Associated Press ed threats wherever they
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — come from," Frydenberg
Facebook threatened to said, referring to the Face-
block Australian publishers book threat.
and individuals from shar- The draft legislation that
ing news stories on its plat- aims to make Australia suc-
form in reaction to an Aus- ceed where other countries
tralian measure that could have failed in forcing the
require it to compensate companies to compensate
media organizations for its media businesses for news
use of their stories. content was made public
The social network said in July.
the Australian move would A public consultation pe-
force it to pay arbitrary and riod ended last week.
theoretically unlimited sums Frydenberg has said he
for information that makes hopes Parliament will pass
up only a small fraction of the legislation this year.
its service. Australian Competition
The measure would force and Consumer Commis-
Facebook to choose be- sion chair Rod Sims, the fair
tween "either removing trade watchdog who de-
news entirely or accepting In this April 14, 2020 file photo, the thumbs up Like logo is shown on a sign at Facebook headquarters vised the model for making
a system that lets publish- in Menlo Park, Calif. Associated Press Facebook and Google pay
ers charge us for as much for content, said he hoped
content as they want at a news organizations, was thorough and careful pro- and fake news, but is ap- "parties will engage in con-
price with no clear limits," titled "Our Continued Com- cess, our public policy parently fine with Face- structive discussions" as the
the company's managing mitment to Journalism." process, based upon the book dropping real news draft legislation was final-
director for Australia and The threat came after a facts, based upon giving all altogether," John Stanton, ized.
New Zealand, Will Easton, consultation period on the stakeholders the chance to co-founder of the Save "Facebook's threat today
wrote in a blog post. "No draft law ended last week put their views," he added. Journalism Project, said in to prevent any sharing of
business can operate that and the Australian govern- Google, meanwhile, issued a statement. "Regulators news on its services in Aus-
way." ment gets to work on its fi- an open letter that cast the need to reign in the tech tralia is ill-timed and mis-
Campbell Brown, a former nal wording. proposed Australian law as giants' total domination of conceived," Sims said.
NBC and CNN anchor who Australian Communica- a potential threat to indi- the online marketplace be- Terry Flew, a professor in the
is Facebook's vice president tions Minister Paul Fletcher vidual privacy and a bur- fore it's too late." creative industries faculty
of global news partner- declined to say whether he den that would degrade Australian Treasurer Josh of the Queensland Univer-
ships, said the cutoff threat thought Facebook would the quality of its search and Frydenberg said the pro- sity of Technology, said it
"has nothing to do with our make good on its threat. YouTube video services, posed laws would "create was impossible to predict
ongoing global commit- "It's far from unprecedent- but did not threaten a cut- a more sustainable media how much the proposed
ment to journalism." Brown's ed for big tech companies off. landscape and see pay- laws could cost Facebook
post, which cited a variety to make heavy-handed "Mark Zuckerberg is happy ment for original content." because prices had to be
of individual Facebook pro- threats," Fletcher said. to let Facebook be a tool "Australia makes laws that negotiated with Australian
grams intended to support "We will continue with our to spread misinformation advance our national in- news businesses.q

Washington says pardons by Venezuela’s Maduro are token acts

when many more opposi- hold more than 330 people ditions required for free and
tion activists remain in jail. the opposition considers fair elections are clear.
"Restoring constitutional political prisoners. "Maduro must lift the ban
rights that were illegally Venezuelan officials on political parties and
taken away should not be framed the presidential candidates, respect Vene-
applauded," the U.S. State decree pardoning political zuelans' freedom of speech
Department said in a state- occupants as a goodwill and the press, end censor-
ment. "All of these prisoners gesture to boost partici- ship, disband his death
should be released imme- pation in a congressional squads, provide for an hon-
diately and uncondition- election set for Dec. 6. An est and independent elec-
ally." The Venezuelan gov- opposition coalition led toral commission, and wel-
ernment a day earlier said by U.S.-backed politician come independent inter-
it was pardoning 110 peo- Juan Guaidó is mounting national election observ-
ple, including opposition a boycott, calling the vote ers," the statement said.
politicians jailed, living in rigged. The list of people pardoned
In this March 12, 2020 file photo, Venezuelan President Nicolas foreign embassies in Cara- The U.S. leads a coalition of didn't include prominent
Maduro speaks at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, cas or driven into exile. Pris- more than 50 nations that opposition leaders such
Venezuela. oner rights groups say that backed Guaidó as Ven- as Leopoldo López, who
Associated Press just 50 of them are what the ezuela's legitimate leader, remains inside a foreign
By SCOTT SMITH ezuelan President Nico- opposition considers politi- pressuring Maduro to leave ambassador's residence in
Associated Press lás Maduro should not be cally motivated cases. power. Caracas, or Julio Borges,
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) praised for releasing a few According to the Caracas- The State Department de- a powerful opposition law-
— The Trump administra- political opponents ahead based prisoner rights group scribed the pardons as "to- maker who is in neighbor-
tion said Tuesday that Ven- of a congressional election, Foro Penal, Venezuelan jails ken actions" and said con- ing Colombia.q