Facebook is angry that Australia wants social media giants to pay for the content reposted from news outlets well.

The move also cut off streams from weather, health and emergency services, although the social media company says that that was a mistake and is now restoring those pages from Sydney Shaimaa Khalil reports this is what Australians woke up to empty news feeds on their Facebook pages after the platform blocked all local and international media outlets, a dramatic escalation in a continued dispute with the government over paying for news content.

Facebook's change didn't just target news.

It also denied Australians access to many pages for charities and essential services, as well as several key government agencies, including health departments and the weather bureau.

The ban prompted an immediate backlash, with many users angered by their sudden loss of access to trusted sources of information.

Facebook bending news is terrible.

Actually, I do use Facebook.

It seems to be a catchall on Dykan get all my news in the one spot.

They're so big and so widely used by Australians that they'll just people will just revolt against it.

Like honestly, like especially the younger generation, people are very like ingrained in Facebook's E don't know how easy it will be for people to just change that.

The government was also swift to react.

Facebook was wrong.

Facebook sections were unnecessary, They were heavy handed and they will damage its reputation here in Australia.

This'd is outrageous and unacceptable.

We expect that Facebook will fix these actions immediately.

I never repeat them again.

This is an assault on a sovereign nation.

It is an assault on people's freedom and in particular it is an utter abuse or big technologies, market power and control over technology.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison slammed the social media company's action as arrogant and disappointing.

Under the proposed legislation, tech giants will be forced to enter into payment negotiations with news outlets over payment for content that appears on their platforms, and if they can't agree, a government arbitrator would get involved.

But Facebook has criticized the law, saying it doesn't reflect how the Internet works and unfairly penalize is it for content it didn't ask for this Fallout is about Facebook making a point.

Many are watching this closely, and the social media giant knows that if it starts paying for news content here in Australia, other nations could make similar demands.

This news block may backfire.

Some experts have described it as anti Democratic and a dangerous turn of events.

And while Facebook asserts its power and influence with this move, the fear is that it may also do its reputation.

Some serious damage.

She mahaleel BBC News.

Sydney Well, I'm joined now by Dr Suzanna Elliott, the CEO of the Australian Science Media Center.

The SMC is a not for profit organization, which provides Australian media with quotes from scientists.

Welcome dr to the program.

I'm just wondering what your assessment is of what's happened in Australia at the moment.

Um, right.

So I mean, basically, it's it's a power struggle, really, between Facebook and our federal government is to put it simply and who is winning that power struggle in your eyes.

Gosh, I think it's a bit early to say, um you know, I mean, some of the experts that we've been talking to have been basically saying, You know, let's see who blinks first.

It's a bit like a gunfight.

Um, you know, I think that Facebook had to back down a little bit today because they had blocked some incredibly important sites, including some emergency services and department of health sites.

And, you know, I think that wasn't a good look for Facebook.

What?

One mark against Facebook?

Sure.

I mean, when we think about the science Media center in your own news flow, how has this ban affected your work and the work that you do with journalists?

Well, our Facebook site was blocked, and it's still blocked, but to be honest, it hasn't had a huge impact impact on us a zone organization because we work very closely with journalists and journalists on the whole, do not source their news from Facebook.

So, luckily for us, that hasn't bean a huge issue for us so far.

I know that you have contact with a large group of experts, you know, in the media industry there, I mean, what is their reaction being to the ban on, you know, what are they telling you about how perhaps this implications off this ruling on how to move forward.

Yeah, look, there's Ah lot of there's a wide variety of reactions, as you can imagine, depending on the kind of experts that were talking to we.

We saw some comments from about 14 different experts today, and, you know, I mean, their reaction ranges from outrage.

There are some that are extremely concerned about Facebook blocking news sites just before we're about to roll out the vaccination, the covert 19 vaccination program on I guess what they're particularly worried about is the idea that by blocking news sites it, then by default will, um, you know, bring or emphasize potentially misinformation.

So it's not that Facebook is obviously trying to promote misinformation.

But when you take away the news than you know by default, that's what happens.

It becomes more higher profile, so that's a major concern.

Some experts actually see this is an opportunity.

They think that this is it's about time that people started to really looking seriously at the news that they're consuming and that they start looking beyond Facebook for their news.

So yeah, so I think those are the sort of two major views that we're getting from experts do you think is going to impact your strategy in terms of your organization and how you work in the future?

Um, no, probably not.

I think the main thing for us is that we're really focused on trying to make sure that the public gets access to evidence based science through the news media.

I mean, clearly that there will be an impact for the public, and we just hope that this impasse passes soon and that they, you know, they can overcome this issue because at the end of the day, the public will suffer.

They're the ones who have to bear the consequences.

It probably won't change the way we work, but it certainly might change the way that journalists work.