Australian lawmakers push ahead with news law after Facebook concessions
The bill, which was amended and green-lighted by Australia’s Senate, will return to its House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass as early as this week.
“Facebook is more than willing to partner with news publishers,” added Clegg. “We absolutely recognize quality journalism is at the heart of how open societies function — informing and empowering citizens and holding the powerful to account.”
After the bill passes both houses, news businesses that want to be paid for content that appears on search engines or social media can sign up — provided they meet some conditions, including earning $150,000 per year in revenue.
“What we’ve sworn to do is create a level playing field,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Sky News on Wednesday. “We’ve sought to sustain public interest journalism in this country, and we’ve also sought to enhance and encourage those commercial deals between the parties.”
One major change is that Frydenberg will be given the discretion to decide that either Facebook or Google need not be subject to the code if they make a “significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry.”
Australia’s original legislation had required the tech giants to submit to forced arbitration if they could not reach a commercial deal with Australian news companies for their content, effectively allowing the government to set a price.
Some critics worry that small publishers could get cut out of the deal, which is supposed to address the power imbalance between the social media giants and publishers when negotiating payment for news content displayed on the tech firms’ sites.
“The big players could successfully negotiate with Facebook or Google. The minister then doesn’t designate them, and all the little players miss out,” independent senator Rex Patrick, who plans to vote against the amended bill, told Reuters.
Frydenberg said he will give Facebook and Google time to strike deals with Australian media companies before deciding whether to enforce his new powers.
Major television broadcaster and newspaper publisher Seven West Media on Tuesday said it had signed a letter of intent to reach a content supply deal with Facebook within 60 days.
Rival Nine Entertainment Co also revealed on Wednesday it was in negotiations with Facebook.
“At this stage, we’re still obviously proceeding with negotiations,” Nine chief executive Hugh Marks told analysts at a company briefing on Wednesday. “It is really positive for our business and positive particularly for the publishing business.”
Category: Technology
Source: New York Post