Australia and publishers really set themselves up for this one. The implication of this rule is that FB is the one benefitting from the sharing of news on thei

Australia and publishers really set themselves up for this one. The implication of this rule is that FB is the one benefitting from the sharing of news on their site, and by giving FB an out (letting them simply ban sharing of news links) they had a chance to forego that 'benefit.' They took it, and lo and behold, FB isn't hurting but the news sites are suffering. Australia should've just taxed Facebook directly and funded the news sites with grants based on that revenue if they wanted the government to rescue publishers. This move really reveals who benefits the most from news on Facebook, and surprise, it's not Facebook.