“Today’s revelations in the Wall Street Journal confirm what we suspected at the time: that Facebook’s takedown was a deliberate attack on Australian democratic institutions, deployed as a negotiating tactic to avoid paying for news content,” said Peter Lewis, Director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology.

“The fact that this global corporation was prepared to deny access to domestic violence services, health services during a pandemic, and other important information shows they were prepared to do almost anything to further their commercial agenda against democracy and the public interest.

“The Facebook takedown is a reminder that this is not a platform we should be trusting to house our civic institutions.”

The Facebook takedown occurred during Government deliberations over the News Media Bargaining Code in February 2021.