CANBERRA (Reuters) – Facebook said on Tuesday it would restore Australian news pages after negotiating changes with the government to a proposed law that forces tech giants to pay for media content displayed on their platforms.FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationThe standoff between the Canberra government and the tech giant has been closely watched by other countries, which are considering whether to follow Australia’s lead in challenging big technology firms’ dominance in the news content market.AMENDMENTSThe deal came as Australia agreed a series of changes to the original legislation.Australia’s treasurer will now consider whether a digital platform has made a “significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through reaching commercial agreements with news media businesses” when deciding whether to apply the proposed law to Facebook or Google.A two-month mediation period has been inserted into the code. This, Australia said, would allow more time to broker agreements before they are forced to enter a binding final offer arbitration process.Australia will tweak the final offer arbitration process to ensure that mediation is first sought.THE END OF THE STANDOFF?Australia says the amendments will encourage Facebook…
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Factbox-Australia, Facebook strike compromise deal in spat over media content
