META is officially unfriending Australia. In the latest example of the company’s brazen indifference to regulations and the content creators that feed their platform, its bombshell refusal to pay for news may come as no surprise – but the shockwaves for Australia, our democracy, economy and way of life, are profound.

This is shaping as a vital moment in the global battle to force this trillion-dollar company to play by the same rules of commerce and fair trading that other businesses live by.