Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticized Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) for its arrogant and irresponsible behavior. The PM has urged the social media giant to continue paying local media organizations for their content.

What Happened: Speaking at a media conference in Melbourne on Saturday, Albanese highlighted the social responsibility of tech giants to keep news on their platforms. He also called on Meta to honor its previous commitments to pay Australian news organizations for their content, reported Bloomberg.

“They have a responsibility to keep news on their platforms,” Albanese said, adding, “The arrogance that's been shown by these international social media companies is not aligned with the social responsibility that they have.”

“They should fulfill the commitments that they had previously given," Albanese stated.

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Why It Matters: The Australian PM’s comments come amid an ongoing dispute between Australia and Meta over paying news outlets for their content. The government is pushing for Meta to continue paying local media organizations under the news media bargaining code, which was introduced in 2021.

Mia Garlick, Meta’s regional policy director, previously stated that the company is considering all options, including banning news on its platforms if the government enforces the news media bargaining code. Under this code, Meta could face fines of up to 10% of its Australian revenue if it fails to engage in payment discussions with news organizations,

In March, Meta announced that it would stop compensating news publishers for their content on Facebook in Australia, France, and Germany.

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