Sydney: The Australian government is working on measures to get big tech firms to pay media companies for news content on their platforms.
“The News Bargaining Initiative will. […] Create a financial incentive for deals between digital platforms and news media businesses in Australia,” Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said on Thursday.
The move will pressure global tech giants like Facebook owner MetaPlatforms and Google to pay publishers for content or risk paying millions to continue operating in the country.
He said the platforms at risk of the charge would be major social media platforms and search engines with more than $250 million in revenue based in Australia.
He added that the charge would be paid for any commercial agreements that are voluntarily entered into between platforms and news media businesses.
Australia passed laws in 2021 to make US tech giants, such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta, pay media companies for links that drive readers and advertising revenue to their platforms.
“We agree with the government that the current law is flawed and there are concerns about subsidizing one industry over another,” a Meta spokesman said after Jones’ announcement.
“This proposal fails to account for the realities of how our platforms operate, particularly that most people do not come to our platforms for news content and that news publishers voluntarily publish content on our platforms. choose to post because they derive value from doing so.” he commented.
Meta has contracts with a number of Australian media firms, including News Corp and national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation, but has since said it will not renew those arrangements after 2024.