Facebook has blocked Australians from accessing and sharing news in protest at a new law which would have forced the site to pay for the content it hosts.
Furious Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the move shows tech companies 'think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them' while others branded it 'an assault on a sovereign nation' and an 'abuse of power'.
The backlash quickly went international, with one Democrat politician in the US saying it shows 'Facebook is not compatible with democracy' while the hashtag 'Delete Facebook' quickly began trending on rival site Twitter.
Australians searching Facebook for news today were instead shown notifications saying 'no posts' were available. Attempting to share news links brought up a message saying 'this post can't be shared'.
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