Facebook restores news pages to Australia

News has returned to Facebook in Australia with the social media behemoth dropping its ban after reaching a deal with the federal government.

Facebook pages for media outlets including Perth Now, The West Australian, News Corp and Nine newspapers, TV networks, ABC and SBS were restored on Friday morning, less than a day after the news media bargaining code passed parliament.

The government agreed to change the code after the tech giant banned Australian users from accessing news.

Google has struck deals worth millions of dollars with news organisations before the code comes into force.

Facebook looks set to do the same after signing a letter intent with Seven West Media and returning to negotiations with other outlets.

Under the code, the treasurer can designate platforms which would then be forced to pay for news content after arbitration.

Facebook last week pulled news in Australia before a tense stand-off with the government ended on Wednesday.