Australia to reveal laws to make Google and FB pay for news
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s government will reveal legislation in Parliament on Wednesday that would make Facebook and Google pay for journalism.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Tuesday that the legislation to create the News Media Bargaining Code will be scrutinized by a parliamentary committee following its introduction and before lawmakers vote on it next year.
“This is a huge reform,” Frydenberg told reporters. “This is a world first. And the world is watching what happens here in Australia.”
“This is comprehensive legislation that has gone further than any comparable jurisdiction in the world,” he added.
The legislation differs from draft proposals that were released in July after consultations with the social media platforms as well as Australian media organizations.
The government had initially planned to exclude state-owned media — Australian Broadcasting Corp. and the Special Broadcasting Service — from being compensated by the tech giants for their journalism.
Frydenberg said those broadcasters would be paid under the latest draft legislation like commercial media businesses.
Facebook has warned it might block Australian news content rather than pay for it.
Google has said the proposed laws would result in “dramatically worse Google Search and YouTube,” put free services at risk and could lead to users’ data “being handed over to big news businesses.”
Frydenberg said Google was taking 53% of online advertising dollars and Facebook took a 23% share.
Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp Australia, one of the nation’s largest media organizations, described the draft legislation as a “significant step forward in the decade-long campaign to achieve fairness in the relationship between Australian news media...
