Time Out has been blocked from Facebook in Australia

You might have heard something in the past few days about tech giants putting the squeeze on publishers in Australia. The government there has been debating new laws requiring tech companies to pay publishers for any news posted on their platforms.

This week, Facebook removed all Australian publishers from its platform overnight and blocked Australian users from accessing any media from anywhere in the world. That includes our Time Out Sydney and Time Out Melbourne pages.

We are deeply disappointed to be excluded from Facebook’s platform in Australia. Time Out cannot currently share local or international content with Australians via Facebook. A number of our English-language pages internationally are also affected.

This hurts Time Out’s reach and revenue, but more importantly, it damages Australians’ access to accurate news and information from all professional media sources.

Time Out has a strong presence in Australia and a special place in Sydney, Melbourne and beyond. We and all the cities that we champion have already overcome colossal challenges in the last 12 months. Every business whose business is social life has had to be ingenious and resilient to survive, and that includes Time Out.

We are proud of Time Out’s mission and its professional, independent journalism. Our mission is to celebrate the city and its many cultures: the unique and brilliant events, restaurants, art, nightlife, bars, cafes, and theatres and – most importantly – the diverse and wonderful people behind them, the makers who make those cities and that culture live and breathe.

Time Out will continue to champion the city and its creative culture, and to seek fair and equitable value from the platforms and partners we work with in 328 cities across the globe. We will campaign for a prompt resolution where trusted, credible media reporting is accessible to all and journalists are paid for their work.

We know there is an audience which is eager to connect with Time Out and to discover the city IRL. We will stay connected with them via our newsletters and other owned channels, and on the many other platforms where our content can be found. Make sure to follow Time Out Sydney on email, Twitter, Instagram and Apple News and Time Out Melbourne on email, Twitter, Instagram and Apple News.

We are grateful to you, our audience, as well as our advertisers and local businesses for their loyalty and support. And we urge you to show solidarity with our Australian team and share our LinkedIn and Twitter posts to support access to trusted, credible media reporting everywhere.

Let’s stay together,

Caroline McGinn
Editor-in-Chief
Time Out