Facebook on Wednesday started blocking users and companies from distributing or viewing news content, the latest broadside in a rapidly escalating war between lawmakers and Big Tech. Australian elected officials introduced a bill late last year that would force Google and Facebook to negotiate contracts with news publishers, in a bid to stop the technology giants from making money from the publishers’ content while paying them nothing. Google soon retaliated by burying links and search results from Australian publishers, and threatened to cut Australians from using its search engine if the law moves forward. Facebook said its action Wednesday came in response to the proposed law, saying it “fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content.” “It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content …