CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government will not be intimidated by Facebook blocking news feeds to users, BBC has reported.

PM Morrison described the move to “unfriend Australia” as arrogant and disappointing.

Facebook is responding to a proposed law that would make tech giants pay for news content on their platforms, according to BBC.

Australians on Thursday woke up to find that Facebook pages of all local and global news sites were unavailable, it said.

Likewise, people outside the country are unable to read or access any Australian news publications on the platform.

Several government health and emergency pages were also blocked. Facebook later asserted this was a mistake and many of these pages are now back online.

Google and Facebook have fought the law because they say it doesn’t reflect how the internet works, and unfairly “penalises” their platforms.

(With inputs from BBC)