Bill to Make Facebook, Google Pay for News Clears Last Major Hurdle in Australia
February 24 2021 - 5:07AM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Cherney
SYDNEY--Australian legislation effectively requiring Facebook
Inc. and Google to pay news outlets for content cleared its last
major parliamentary hurdle, capping a multiyear effort that could
set a global precedent for regulating the tech giants' relations
with publishers.
As its spat with the Australian government over the proposed
media code deepened, Facebook last week followed through on a
threat to remove news from its platform in the country. After the
government agreed to small changes to the legislation, Facebook
said Tuesday that the news would be restored.
In general, the code compels tech companies and news publishers
to submit to binding arbitration if they can't reach a deal on
payment. The amendments announced Tuesday include requiring an
additional round of negotiation before binding arbitration kicks
in, as well as more acknowledgment of any deals Facebook reaches
with publishers on its own.
Alphabet Inc.'s Google also initially opposed the legislation,
at one time threatening to shut down its search engine in
Australia. Recently, though, it opted instead to sign content deals
with a number of publishers--including News Corp, which owns big
newspapers in Australia as well as Dow Jones & Co., the
publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
News Corp has supported the law.
Parliament's upper chamber, the Senate, passed the legislation
with the Facebook amendments late Wednesday. It will now return to
the lower chamber, the House of Representatives--which earlier
passed the unamended version--for a vote as early as Thursday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's center-right government effectively
controls the lower chamber.
The code will become law when it is signed by Australia's
governor-general, the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth
II, Australia's head of state.
Australia's effort to compel the tech companies to pay for news
has been watched globally, and there are signs of momentum for
similar legislation in other countries. In Canada, for example, one
minister has said his government intends to introduce measures.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently spoke with Mr.
Morrison about potential regulatory cooperation.
Both Google and Facebook have previously paid for news in some
cases. News Corp already has a commercial agreement to supply news
through Facebook. Google has signed deals with more than 500
publications in a dozen countries, including Germany, the U.K. and
Australia, for a product called News Showcase, and it has pledged
$1 billion over three years to such licensing deals.
Australian officials have previously said that the code's
purpose is to encourage the tech companies and media outlets to
strike deals on their own, after media companies complained that
the digital platforms' market power meant they had no incentive to
negotiate.
The tech giants have argued that when their platforms send users
to news websites, publishers benefit. Other business groups and
some computer scientists have also raised concerns about the
law.
Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 24, 2021 05:52 ET (10:52 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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