A list of Facebook pages that have been removed, as seen by The Courier, are still offline - these include Ballarat Community Health, St Patrick's College, WRISC Family Violence Support, and Commerce Ballarat.

The initial action targeted "news businesses" - this includes The Courier's Facebook page, however all content will still be available on the website, thecourier.com.au - but also blocked the Bureau of Meteorology and several public health and emergency service pages across the country.

AS IT HAPPENED: Multiple Ballarat pages wiped in Facebook mass shutdown

Facebook said in a statement on Thursday any "inadvertent impacts" will be fixed, but despite the owners of these pages submitting feedback directly to the company, nothing has been changed yet.

Ballarat Football Netball League general manager Shane Anwyl said it was "disappointing" their page was still online, as the start of competition draws closer.

"For no known reason we're caught up in this," he said.

"Our page is used mostly for information to the wider football netball league community - the news, for want of a better word, would only be league related, around sponsorship announcements and interleague opportunities."

The league had sent "some messages" asking for an explanation why their page was removed, with no reply yet.

Mr Anwyl added the league will use other channels to get essential information to clubs and other stakeholders.

READ MORE: 'We're looking at a problem of hypocrisy': How Facebook's decision will affect our democracy

"We're directly contacting clubs to make sure they're aware of announcements we've got, over the next week or two at least, so they can get information out through their own channels," he said.

"There's no reason for it at all from our perspective - it's just a heavy handed attitude."

Facebook's unilateral action is in response to a federal government push to create a mandatory code of conduct which would force tech giants to pay news businesses for content shared on their platforms.

IN THE NEWS

Google, which operates differently to Facebook, has signed deals with several businesses to pay for content, including Australian Community Media, The Courier's publisher.

Any non-news businesses affected are urged to get in touch with Facebook before February 25.

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