Govt must invest in journalism: Greste

Professor Greste, a journalist and academic who served 13 months in an Egyptian prison for his reporting, said Meta was making a "rational business choice" in its refusal to keep news.

He said Meta's behaviour was "horrendous", but that designating the company under the News Media Bargaining Code - as the Greens and media companies are pushing for - would not solve the problem.

"If we recognize that journalism is an essential public good, then we've got to rethink a way of financing that supports that public good that is sustainable, that is not contingent on the whims of a foreign company," Professor Greste said.

"I always felt that trying to pay for news by the social media giants to pitch in for news was cementing in a pre-digital system that doesn't really work any longer."

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland are weighing options to force the company to pay media companies for news, after Meta announced it would not renew deals that expire this year.

The social media giant has threatened to pull news from its platforms if the Australian government moves to designate it under the News Media Bargaining Code and drag Meta to an arbitration.

Meta has already done this in Canada, where Facebook users who click on a media company's page are met with the error message: "People in Canada can't see this content. In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can't be seen in Canada."

Professor Greste said the federal government needed to face the "politically difficult" reality that it must invest in public interest journalism to counter the problem of social media misinformation and disinformation.

He said the public good brought about by journalism could far outweigh its economic value, giving the example of reporting by the Sydney Morning Herald on the big banks.

"I bet that maybe 5 per cent of the country would have ever read that reporting - yet it triggered a Royal Commission and every Australian with a bank account benefited from that journalism," Professor Greste said.

Free TV CEO Bridget Fair said moves by Meta to block news on its platforms "should be extremely concerning to all Australians" and would make it harder for people to be fully informed.

"We call on the government to immediately designate all Meta platforms - Facebook, Instagram and Reels - under the News Media Bargaining Code without delay," she said.

A Meta spokesperson would not rule out blacklisting Australian media companies when asked on Friday, saying, "We won't speculate on hypothetical scenarios, but we'll continue to engage with the government on this topic."

A spokesperson for Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said the government "has publicly and privately made our position to Meta very clear: Australian news media businesses should be fairly remunerated for news content used on digital platforms".

"It is clearly in both Meta's and the public interest to do all it can to incentivise quality, trusted content," the spokesperson said.

"The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is leading direct information gathering with news media businesses as it develops its advice to Government.

"The Government is following the process to the letter of the law and won't pre-empt advice from the ACCC."

An ACCC spokesperson said the competition regulator's advice to the Assistant Treasurer "is a high priority for the ACCC" and would provide the advice "as soon as practicable".