- Canberra passed unprecedented laws last year requiring Google and Facebook to pay media publishers for news.
- The world-first rule has been successful.
- Media outlets inked more than 30 partnerships for news posted on Google or Facebook.
Australia’s world-first rule mandating Big Tech to pay for news has been successful, and Canberra should explore extending it to TikTok and Twitter, a government report says.
Canberra passed unprecedented laws last year requiring Google and Facebook to pay media publishers for news information on their platforms or let a government-appointed arbitrator decide.
In a report released Thursday, Australia’s Treasury said media outlets inked more than 30 partnerships for news posted on Google and Facebook.
According to the research, at least some of these partnerships have helped news organizations hire more journalists and make other investments.
While opinions on the Code’s success vary, we consider it a success to date.
Some reviewers claimed the code caused “resource imbalances” between media sites with and without deals and commercial agreements lacked transparency, but the system was not meant to “redistribute resources across the news industry,” the report said.
The Treasury report advised the government urged the ACCC to investigate extending the code to other platforms, examine new powers to acquire information about transactions between outlets and platforms, and review the code after four years.
Australia enacted the policy after accusations that tech corporations were depriving struggling news organizations of digital advertising revenues, endangering public interest journalism.
Google and Facebook rejected Australia’s intentions to make Big Tech pay for news and banned all news from their platforms in the country until the government amended the code.
Rob Nicholls, a tech regulation expert at UNSW Business School, said the measure was a “safety net” for the media industry.
“A commercial arrangement without regulatory intrusion is preferable. Nicholls told Al Jazeera that restrictions that only take effect without a commercial arrangement are an acceptable approach.
“Canada followed suit.” The way industry codes work under Australian competition law limits their application to other areas.
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