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Facebook refriends Australia after last-minute changes to media code
By Lisa Visentin
Facebook has agreed with Seven West Media to pay for news content and has restarted negotiations with Nine Entertainment Co, after the social media giant agreed to reverse its ban on news on its Australian site.
The Morrison government agreed to last-minute changes to its proposed media bargaining code on Tuesday in order to bring Facebook back to the negotiating table with news companies. The amendments pave the way for Google and Facebook to avoid the code altogether if they can satisfy the government they have struck enough deals outside it.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has spoken to global Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg multiple times in recent weeks in a bid to address the company’s concerns with the news media bargaining code. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said amendments to the code had been brokered during intensive negotiations with Facebook’s global chief, Mark Zuckerberg. The company last week banned Australian users from sharing or viewing news articles in protest against the proposed laws, but Facebook agreed to reverse the decision on Tuesday.
“Facebook has refriended Australia. Australian news will be restored to the Facebook platform, and Facebook has committed to entering into good-faith negotiations with Australian news media businesses and seeking to reach agreements to pay for content,” Mr Frydenberg said on Tuesday.
The government’s intention has been for the code to act as an incentive for tech companies to strike deals with media providers without government intervention.
Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes announced on Tuesday evening the company had signed a letter of intent with Facebook for the use of its news content.
“The establishment of this new partnership with Facebook is a significant move for our business and reflects the value of our original news content across our successful metropolitan and regional broadcast, digital and print properties,” Mr Stokes said.
Industry and government sources said Nine has restarted negotiations with Facebook. News Corp and the Guardian Australia have also resumed talks with the social media giant.
A spokesman for Nine said it was “pleased” with the breakthrough and looked forward to “constructive discussions resuming” with Facebook.
The amendments were signed off by the Coalition party room on Tuesday morning, clearing the way for the legislation’s passage through Parliament as soon as Wednesday.
Facebook Australia managing director Will Easton said the amendments addressed the company’s core concerns.
“As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public-interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days,” he said.
The amendments require the Treasurer to take into account whether the digital platforms have already struck commercial agreements with news publishers before passing further regulation to make the code formally apply to them.
In the event the Treasurer decides to enforce the code, the tech giants must be given one month’s notice.
Another change will add a two-month mediation period into the code to give the parties more time to broker agreements before they are forced to enter a binding final-offer arbitration process. This comes on top of the existing three-month negotiation period.
The code’s non-differentiation provisions, which could see the tech giants fined as much as $10 million for punishing news businesses that participate in the code, will also be clarified to ensure they are not triggered as a result of the publishers securing different types of deals or remuneration.
Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice-president of global news partnerships, said in a statement the changes allowed the company “to support the publishers we choose to, including small and local publishers”. However, she indicated the company was prepared to reinstate a ban in the future.
“Going forward, the government has clarified we will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that we won’t automatically be subject to a forced negotiation,” she said.
The code, which is backed by Labor and will become law, sets out a framework for forcing Google and Facebook to broker commercial deals with media companies for the value they obtain from having news content on their platforms. Facebook and Google have both fiercely resisted the code, describing it as “unworkable” and threatening to curtail their services in Australia if it passed unamended.
Google threatened to cut off search in Australia in protest against the code, but later struck multimillion-dollar deals with major Australian publishers, including Nine Entertainment Co, which owns this masthead, for the use of their content.
Mr Frydenberg said Mr Zuckerberg had assured him Facebook’s intention was to reach deals with Australian news outlets and its negotiations were “pretty well advanced” with a number of publishers.
Facebook attempted to restart negotiations with Nine and News Corp late last week, but the parties have been unable to resolve an impasse over Facebook’s demand for a so-called “poison pill” clause. The clause would allow Facebook to terminate the deals struck with publishers at any time, including once the new laws were passed.