> Isn't Facebook allowed to go, sorry, I don't like that price?
It really depends on the laws involved. If the government decides Facebook accepting certain terms is the cost of business, then Facebook doesn't get a say in it. Kind of like taxes. If you want to operate in a country, you're taxed accordingly. In general, you don't get to not pay a tax just because you don't want to.
Basically, if the law allows, they can. Reasonability doesn't have a lot to do with things at the upper levels of government.
This isn't a tax though. This is mandating that company A sell company B's product, and also pay a set price, which may or may not be a fair price. Should a company be willing to happily go out of business because they are not allowed to sell at a fair market price?
This is actually a step further into absurdity since Facebook is not selling news articles, they are merely linking them. Its the equivalent of the Government telling me I need to pay Nike $5 every time I say the word Nike to someone.
A tax to fund a newspaper subsidy would make sense. This isn't a tax. It's mandated commerce. We usually restrict that for protecting protected classes.
It really depends on the laws involved. If the government decides Facebook accepting certain terms is the cost of business, then Facebook doesn't get a say in it. Kind of like taxes. If you want to operate in a country, you're taxed accordingly. In general, you don't get to not pay a tax just because you don't want to.
Basically, if the law allows, they can. Reasonability doesn't have a lot to do with things at the upper levels of government.