Facebook is facing mounting criticism after it blocked news content in Australia amid a dispute with the government over a planned law. The law will force tech giants to pay for news content on their platforms.

Facebook says the legislation “fundamentally misunderstands” its relationship with publishers. But politicians, publishers and rights groups in several countries have accused it of bullying, and raised concerns over access to information. Under Facebook’s new rules, Australian users are blocked from viewing and sharing local and international news, while local publishers are restricted from sharing or posting any links on their pages.Several government health and emergency pages were also blocked, but Facebook later said this was a mistake and many of these pages are now back online.(BBC)…[+]