Facebook’s Vice President of Global Affairs has defended the tech giant’s Australian news ban, saying it was “legally necessary” to do so before impending media payment laws were legislated through the country’s Parliament. Clegg, who is a former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, wrote in a blog just hours after the news ban was reversed, “Many people are rightly asking: what on Earth was all that about?” “At the heart of it, in Facebook’s view, is a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Facebook and news publishers,” he added. The VP was talking about the contentious News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code that locks Google and Facebook into a framework where news outlets in Australia can enter negotiations with the tech giants for payment of their content.  Australia’s Parliament passed the law on Thursday. The Code mandates a three-month window for parties to negotiate a deal, if …