For the past few months, tension has risen between the Australian government and tech giants like Google like Facebook. According to the Australian government, such massive tech companies should pay the local media and publishing companies for content. In this way, the local Australian media channels and quality content providers will be benefited and would help in their overall economic and social growth. In the beginning, Google opposed the decision when the first news broke out, but with compromise from both parties, Australia finally passed the landmark law on 25th February 2021.
This new law passed by the Australian legislation will make the tech giants across the globe pay millions of dollars for local news content. Facebook and Google strongly opposed the law but after watering down the binding rules, they have finally agreed to pay the local news channels (Gadgets 360). In the beginning, Google said that the search engine will shut down in Australia if the law is enforced. But, after months of several discussions and debates, Google and Facebook will pay tens of millions with the enforcement of this law.
What changes the new law will bring?
The new law passed by the Australian government will help largely to uplift and give recognition to local news publishers. This can be a perfect model for other nations as well where tensions have risen before between such big firms and local companies. Uplifting small businesses help in improving the economic condition of a nation overall.
Google has launched its new product called Google News Showcase last year. The content Google will pay for now to the local Australian content publishers will be posted on this new platform. In the case of Facebook, the company will pay for the content coming up on the News product which is yet to be rolled out in Australia.
The main reason that the urgency to enforce this law came up is that the regulators think the big tech giants dominate online advertising. With every passing day, they are suppressing the importance of the traditional way of airing news and those organizations as well. At the same time, they are using the content from these organizations for free which is not justified. This is true as everyone is using the internet and smartphone for every purpose and the conventional way of news sourcing is getting lost somewhere. At first, the big tech firms opposed fearing it would hurt their business but it is also a government’s responsibility to uplift the condition of its nation.
Negotiations and compromises
When the Australian government planned to enforce the law the media companies opposed it because the former was going to make it compulsory. And, the government also mentioned that if the companies fail to strike a deal with the local media companies, it will fix a negotiator who will decide the terms of the monetary settlement on behalf of the company. This prospect was dramatically reduced by last-minute government amendments (Gadgets 360).
If both Google and Facebook have backed their business out from Australia, they would have lost millions of active users which would have affected their businesses. So, both Google and Facebook are trying to negotiate deals with Australian media companies. Josh Frydenberg, the Treasurer, said that it pleases the government to see that both the companies are trying to land commercial arrangements with Australian companies. Facebook was not very inclined towards this arrangement before as the company is not that much interested in news content.
Public interest journalism
The new law that is passed today is called the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. And, according to the Australian government, this new law will help remunerate the local media companies for the quality content they are providing. This new working culture will improve and sustain public interest journalism in Australia. The two tech giants still have a couple of months left to reach any further agreements.
Google has arranged deals with two Australian media companies namely Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Nine Entertainment. Facebook’s first deal is with Seven West Media which is another new organization in Australia. Both the companies are planning to invest around $1billion in the news sector for the next three years.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more