Facebook blocks news access in Australia as publishing battle heats up

An Australian Broadcasting Corporation page on Facebook is displayed without posts on a computer in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: Rick Rycroft/AP

Facebook has blocked Australians from sharing news in a stunning act of retaliation against government moves to make the social media giant pay for Australian journalism.

The move was seen as a milestone in the increasingly frantic jockeying between governments, media and powerful tech companies that one Australian minister called “an assault on a sovereign nation” and abuse of power.