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Australia wakes up to empty news feed on Facebook

Dozens of Australian companies, charities and information providers reacted with anger on Thursday after being shut down by Facebook, imploring the social media giant to restore their pages as calls for users to delete the platform grew, Reuters reports.

Australians were blocked from accessing news in their Facebook feeds after an escalation of the proposed media bargaining code which would require the company and Google to reach commercial deals with news outlets whose links drive traffic to their platforms.

But several charities and pages of official health, meteorology and emergency services were also blocked, along with smaller, niche content providers.

Foodbank Australia, one of the many charities caught in the crossfire, said Facebook’s response was “unacceptable”.

“Hours matter when you have nothing to eat. SORT THIS OUT!” CEO Brianna Casey tweeted.

Save the Children CEO Paul Ronalds said the charity had come to rely on the platform to communicate with supporters and members.

Facebook had restored the government services pages by afternoon, but there were still small businesses and community groups who were left venting, with #facebooknewsban and #DeleteFacebook trending on microblogging site Twitter.

Google and Facebook have fought the law because they say it doesn’t reflect how the internet works, and unfairly “penalizes” their platforms.

However, in contrast to Facebook, Google has in recent days signed payment deals with three major Australian media outlets.

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