When Facebook blocked hundreds of Australian emergency services and government pages during the company’s negotiation with the federal government last year it was not an accident, but rather a deliberate negotiating tactic, company whistleblowers have alleged.
Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has strenuously denied the claims.
US-based legal organisation Whistleblower Aid said on Friday it had filed a disclosure with the US Department of Justice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on behalf of former Facebook employees alleging that Facebook had deliberately over-blocked pages as a means of negotiating a better outcome in the negotiations over legislation to force Meta to pay Australian media companies for news content.
The allegations were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Whistleblower Aid also represented Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.
On 17 February, 2021, Facebook blocked all news on its platform in Australia, including information, government, health and emergency services pages such as Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the Council on Homeless Persons, the Australian Medical Association, the Sydney Local Health District, Suicide Prevention Australia, the Tasmanian Government, SA Health, Fire and Rescue New South Wales and, 1800Respect.
Facebook at the time was claiming the legislation would create an unworkable precedent, but said the blocking of government pages was inadvertent.
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