Frydenberg backs Australian media’s fight for tech giants to pay up
Josh Frydenberg has vowed to take up the fight forcing Facebook and Google to pay Australian media companies millions to use their news — ending the tech giants’ ability to exploit original content for profit.
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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has vowed to take the fight up to Facebook and Google, forcing the tech giants to pay millions of dollars to Australian media companies to use their news.
A world-first mandatory code of conduct will be in place as early as August, with various options on the table to deliver much-needed revenue to news outlets, such as a pay-per-click scheme or payments based on the cost of producing news.
Mr Frydenberg said the government intervened to take on some of the “most valuable and powerful companies in the world” after the competition watchdog indicated negotiations for a voluntary code had stalled.
“We believe this is a battle worth fighting. We believe this is critical for the future viability of our media sector,” he said.
“We won’t bow to their threats.”
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims said the mandatory code would end the “one-sided” business model that was putting the sustainability of news outlets at risk.
He said there were concerns that negotiations for a voluntary code were being “completely driven by Facebook and Google”, pointing out non-compulsory measures overseas had failed.
“A couple of countries overseas, particularly Spain and France, have passed various laws to get Google and Facebook to pay for content and Google and Facebook have basically said the amount we’re willing to pay is zero,” Mr Sims said.
Facebook hit back at the government’s intervention, with Australian managing director Will Easton saying the company was “disappointed” as it had “worked hard to meet their agreed deadline” for voluntary rules.
It is understood the social media giant had written its own draft code and had been seeking feedback from publishers in recent weeks.
Mr Easton said Facebook was already supporting news organisations impacted by declining advertising revenues during the coronavirus crisis, and hoped the code would “protect the interests of millions of Australians and small businesses that use our services every day”.
In a statement, Google said it had “worked for many years to be a collaborative partner to the news industry”, and promised to work constructively on the new mandatory code.
Labor welcomed the mandatory code and said Australian media companies needed to get “a decent return for their investment in public interest journalism from digital platforms such as Google and Facebook”.
The ACCC will finalise the code by the end of July, and Mr Frydenberg said it would be legislated soon after that.
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