Australia Could Force Facebook And Google To Pay For News Content

Facebook and Google have a bit of a delicate relationship with publishers of media content. This is because while these tech companies provide a platform to allow publishers to gain exposure to their content, at the same time Facebook and Google also benefit from it through advertisements.

There has been a bit of back and forth between publishers and these tech companies, and if publications should get paid if either Facebook or Google uses their content. For publishers over in Australia, there is some good news because the local government has ordered it Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to create a mandatory code of conduct that would force platforms like Facebook and Google to pay news outlets whenever their content is used.

According to the report from ABC News, the ACCC was originally tasked with creating a voluntary code of conduct, but they later came back and said that coming to a voluntary agreement would be “unlikely” (no surprises there). With the COVID-19 virus outbreak hitting all industries, including media publications, this has forced the Australian government to step in and make the code of conduct a mandatory one instead.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said, “Digital platforms need to do more to improve the transparency of their operations for news media providers as they have a significant impact on the capacity of news media organisations to build and maintain an audience and derive resources from the media content they produce.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook, Google, Legal