[abiogenesis]

Blackmail is an exaggeration. The government is asking them to pay for news articles (that have been voluntarily shared) and what Facebook simply says is "we liked the articles when they were free, but thanks, we don't want to buy them".

[oska]

We liked the articles when they were free and we could push ads alongside them and we don't want to share the profits we make from this ad-pushing, sorry.

That's a much more true summary of their position I think. Facebook, exactly like Google, is an ad-pushing company. I don't have any sympathy for ad-pushing companies in the first instance and then even less for those who want to push ads against work they haven't commissioned themselves.

[abiogenesis]

Agreed, but we don't have to have sympathy for a company to be fair to them. This is their business model and they have every right not to change it.