Facebook Inc. today issued a warning that it will block users in Australia from sharing stories from mainstream media ahead of a proposed law that will force internet companies to pay for the privilege of its users doing so.

The proposed law, technically a “mandatory code of conduct,” was proposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and ordered to become so by the Australian government. In effect, it would result in major internet companies such as Facebook and Google LLC being forced to hand over money to mainstream media companies for the privilege of users sharing links to the sites.

The very short version is that it’s a link tax. The ACCC, the Australian government and its media backers which include Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. argue that the likes of Google and Facebook “steal” their news without paying for it when links are shared on Google News or a Facebook page. The “stealing” is nothing more than linking to a story and sometimes with a blurb of 20 of so words from the top of the linked story.

“Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram,” Will Easton, Facebook’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement. “This is not our first choice – it is our last. But it is the only way to protect against an outcome that defies logic and will hurt, not help, the long-term vibrancy of Australia’s news and media sector.”

Easton went on to say that Facebook supports the Australian government’s goal of supporting struggling local news organizations while adding that the link tax is counterproductive to that goal.

“The proposed law is unprecedented in its reach and seeks to regulate every aspect of how tech companies do business with news publishers,” Easton noted. “Most perplexing, it would force Facebook to pay news organisations for content that the publishers voluntarily place on our platforms and at a price that ignores the financial value we bring publishers.”

Australia’s imposition of a link tax is not entirely new in a global sense. Spain tried to do the same thing in 2014 and it didn’t end well. Google simply closed its operations in the country. Australia is likely facing a similar outcome.

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