How I learned to stop worrying and love the Great Firewall. The Australian government is perhaps hours from passing the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, a law that will fundamentally transform the technology industry’s relationship with media. The thinking goes something like this: “news” is important, media companies that produce “news” are bad at making money, tech companies that link to “news” should give media companies money. Last week, Google conceded. But in a world where the only winning move is often not to play, Facebook took its ball and went home. With the Thanos snap of Mark Zuckerberg’s fingers, the people of Australia were no longer able to share news articles on the largest social media platform in the world.

While the ensuing fury was considerable, Zuckerberg ultimately secured a local victory. After a week of political brinksmanship, which almost immediately influenced global policy, further negotiations between Facebook and the Australian government resulted in a series of amendments to the troubled legislation. The New York Times reports:

… Facebook returned to the negotiating table after the Australian government granted a few minor concessions. Under several amendments to the code, Facebook would get more time to cut deals with publishers so it would not be immediately forced into making payments. The amendments also suggested that if digital platforms had significantly contributed to the Australian news industry, the companies could avoid the code entirely, at least for now.