4 years ago
Australia is planning to introduce a bill into parliament that would force Facebook and Google to pay news outlets for featuring their work.
The Australian government said the "world-first" laws would mandate a process for news outlets to "fair" payments for their work. Currently a power imbalance favors the big tech firms, the government said.
The tech giants have opposed the laws, which they say will damage reader access. Facebook had threatened to block Australian users from sharing news stories on their timelines if the law passes ahead.
Similarly, Google has said its search services would be "precipitously worse" under the change and implementation of laws. As more readers have moved online in recent years, tech giants have faced calls internationally to pay more for news stories hosted on their platforms.
"This is a huge reform. And the world is watching what happens here in Australia," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Tuesday. He said a strong and diverse media industry was "vital to our democracy".
The bill will be introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday but is unlikely to be passed until the new year, local media reported. Australian print media has seen a 75% decline in advertising revenue since 2005, the government said.
Several Australian news outlets have shut down or cut jobs this year. The bill will include Australia's two public broadcasters ABC and SBS and requirements for Google and Facebook to share user data of news stories with their publishers.
Concessions made by the government since July include dropping Instagram and Google News from the list of affected platforms, and halving a 28-day notice period for platforms to alert news outlets of algorithm changes.
