Australia could be joined by up to 14 other countries fighting back against tech giants seeking to avoid paying for use of their content after Facebook blocked all news from the feeds of Australians on Thursday.
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The Canadian minister in charge of legislation similar to the media bargaining code currently progressing through Australia's parliament said he was watching Australia closely to decide on what model his country would adopt. He foresaw an alliance of like-minded nations.
"I think what Facebook is doing in Australia is highly irresponsible and compromises the safety of many Australian people," Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told reporters.
He said he was talking to ministers in Australia but also in France, Germany and Finland.
"I suspect that soon we will have five, 10, 15 countries adopting similar rules," the Canadian minister said.
One headline in the Canadian press ran: "Canada to join Australia in fight against Facebook's dominance."
The European Union is pressing ahead with more regulation.
The shows of support often came from politicians below the top rank rather than prime ministers and presidents. A British parliamentary committee chairman overseeing the media industry, Julian Knight, called Facebook's action "bullying".
Mr Knight who has influence in the governing Conservative party used strong words. "This is not just about Australia. This is Facebook putting a marker down, saying to the world that 'if you do wish to limit our powers, we can remove what is for many people a utility'," he said.
All the same, none of the leaders in Downing Street, the White House nor the Beehive in Wellington came out and commented.
Mr Morrison indicated, though, that Australia wasn't going it quite alone. "I am in regular contact with the leaders of other nations on these issues," he said on Facebook on Thursday.
"We simply won't be intimidated, just as we weren't when Amazon threatened to leave the country and when Australia drew other nations together to combat the publishing of terrorist content on social media platforms."
But even without strong support from leaders for the Australian government in its stand-off with Facebook, it is clear that broader sentiment is moving against the big tech companies. Where once they might have seemed untouchable, now legislators have them in their sights.
While the United States government has urged Australia to shelve its new code compelling Google and Facebook to do deals with media companies, Google is facing lawsuits in the US that allege it's abusing its dominance of online searches to push out competitors.
In October, a French court ruled that Google had to negotiate with French media over payment for the use of news. The result has been a deal with the bigger media companies for payment.
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Last year, Google agreed on the principle of paying news publishers and then struck deals with media companies in Germany, Australia, Brazil as well as France.
It has now improved that deal in Australia under threat of the government's move towards the new legislation.
There are no easy ways in this, though. In France, the deal with big publishers left small publications out.
The long-term effects remain to be seen. One unintended consequence may be that the media gets more concentrated as small publishers find it harder to survive against the big ones.
Other countries may like what Australia is doing but be waiting to see what the unintended consequences might be.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Harley Dennett
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
