Australia leads the way as a ‘test case’ in dealing with tech giants.

Countries around the world the world are looking to Australia as a “test case” when it comes to how to deal with tech giants like Facebook, according to Tech Guide Editor Stephen Fenech.

“I’m really encouraged that we’re standing our ground, we want to try to do the best for ourselves and other countries are recognising that,” he said.

On Thursday, Facebook banned Australian users and publishers from sharing or viewing news articles on its platform in response to the government’s media bargaining code which seeks to force tech giants to pay for news content.

“They’re absolutely losing the PR battle right now, the rest of the world is condemning what they’ve done,” Mr Fenech told Sky News.

“It’s very encouraging to see that other part of the world like the US … the House of Representatives were talking about it, even the UK and the EU were also thinking of drafting similar laws following Australia’s lead.

“There’s a lot of countries that are looking at Australia as a bit of a test case at the moment because Facebook is this juggernaut that is hogging most of the advertising dollars along with Google”.

Mr Fenech also told Sky News his Tech Guide page had been “knocked out” by the ban despite the fact he had paid thousands of dollars over the years to build up his Facebook community.

[skynews.com.au]