Facebook banned news companies from their platform in response to a drafted media law that requires tech giants like Google and Facebook to pay media outlets for sharing news.

Appearing to have unintended consequences, small businesses and other pages that post vital information belonging to charities, health organisations and surf life saving crews have been banned from sharing content.

All previous posts from pages caught in the ban have also been removed.

"I heard about the ban on the radio yesterday. And I found it fascinating at an intellectual level and then this morning I was alerted to the fact that WorkLife had been swept up in it," said Kate Dezarnaulds, the founder of WorkLife in Berry.

"It's outrageous. We're a network of co-working spaces and we have been enormously affected by COVID and it just feels like another kick in the teeth after a long run of incredibly big picture issues that are having enormous effects on small businesses.

"Our resilience is being tested again and again."

Using Facebook to connect with her community and keep a record of attendance on scheduled events, Dezarnaulds says the ban has had immediate effects on how she operates her business.

"The immediate impact is that we have a bunch of events scheduled for International Women's Day and all of the attendances for those and the marketing for those is interrupted, so we have to urgently make a new plan to promote those," she said.

"And, long-term, the effect is that we accept that the only way that you can protect your own business interests is that you invest in assets that you own rather than all of these global platforms.

"So I'll be spending a lot more time on my own website and on my own email marketing list. I'll be trying to ensure myself against disruptions like these down the track."

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The Facebook page of award-winning photographer in Berry Andy Hutchinson has also been caught in the ban, calling it an "aggressive act" by Facebook.

"If you are an admin it all appears normal on your own account. You have to actually get someone who actually isn't an admin to have a look to see if your posts are gone," he said.

"I saw there were changes to the Facebook feed when I checked Facebook yesterday morning, I saw the notice they gave to everybody. And sure enough my page had just been wiped.

"It's crazy, they appeared to have spent about five minutes writing the algorithm that they chose to instigate this ban on news organisations and it seems like a huge cross-section of completely blameless people that have been caught up in this aggressive act by Facebook."

Mr Hutchinson used the platform to share his portfolio, which is his main way of attracting sales. Personal opinions about social media aside, the platform is vital to the way he runs business.

"The sorry fact is that the vast majority of us get most of our sales leads from that platform," he said.

"I wish this wasn't the case but you just have to go where the people are. So you can't really take a high ground, if you're in this business, you have to go where the people are.

"Older people who may be renovating a property will go to my page to look on Facebook.

"I've tried to operate my business in a normal way by just posting my photographs and sharing some content. I'm certainly not a news organisation."

Mr Hutchinson said it was the sharing function on Facebook that drove traffic to his page.

"A lot of tourist sites like Australia.com would share my photographs and I forget how many millions of followers they have on their page, but when they share one of your photographs...it's a huge amount of traffic coming your way," he said.

"And that's gone completely now as well."

Hoping that her page is recovered as soon as possible, Dezarnaulds expressed worry about the wider implications the ban could have on the community.

"We can't do anything on our page at the moment but I am imagining that will be rectified," she said.

"I don't think we are the intended target so I'm trying to maintain a sense of calm that everything will be restored in the next few days.

"As a citizen, I am outraged by the idea that the platform that most people find their news on now is going to have an absence of verified and fact checked information."