Facebook Reaches Deal with Australia’s News Corp

Facebook reached an agreement with Australian News Corp under a new bill that makes social media companies pay local news outlets for their content.

The deal comes nearly a month after the Australian parliament approved a law that would allow a government judge to determine the price a digital company should pay news outlets if the two sides failed to reach an agreement.

News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thompson said the agreement "is a milestone in changing the terms of trade for the press, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news business."

According to the head of Facebook Australia's News Partnerships, Andrew Hunter, the deal means that the country's 17 million users of the social media giant will "gain access to premium news articles and breaking news video from the National News Corp network."

The passage of the law came after a bitter confrontation between Facebook and News Corp., owned by global media mogul Rupert Murdoch, which culminated with the social media giant blocking all Australian news content from the site.

News Corp says its Australian subsidiary "Sky News" has also reached a separate agreement with Facebook that extends an existing agreement.

Google had also signed agreements with News Corp and other Australian media giants such as Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment.