Federal government adopts all five recommendations from review of the News Media Bargaining Code for Google, Meta deals

The News Media Bargaining Code will be strengthened to ensure media outlets receive appropriate remuneration for the use of their content on digital platforms.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage.

The News Media Bargaining Code will be strengthened to ensure media outlets receive appropriate remuneration for the use of their content on digital platforms after the federal government revealed it will adopt all five recommendations made by a Treasury review.

This includes giving the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission directions to prepare interim reports on the digital platforms, outline the extent to which they make news content available and determine whether there are power imbalances between them and ­publishers.

The code was introduced in 2021 in a world-first move, and since then more than 30 commercial agreements have been signed between digital platforms, including Google and Meta (owner of Facebook), and news publishers across the country.

Many of the deals are now up for renewal and discussions are under way.

Under the recommendations the government supports, the ACCC will have information-gathering powers, such as the ability to obtain details of commercial deals between digital platforms and news outlets.

When the review was conducted, the commercial agreements were governed by confidentiality clauses.

The existing deals – some of them multi-year – are collectively worth about $500m for their duration.

Major news publishers that signed deals with tech giants include News Corp Australia (publisher of The Australian), Sky News Australia (owned by News Corp), Nine Entertainment, Seven West Media, ABC, SBS, The Guardian and Australian Community Media.

More than 30 media outlets in Australia signed commercial deals with tech giants including Google and Meta to ensure they are remunerated for the use of their content.

The review, completed last December, said the code was a “success to date” and it had addressed “bargaining power imbalances so as to ensure news businesses receive fair remuneration from digital platforms for the value their content generates”. “While the Code has performed well in its first year … it will be important to review the Code again in the future (2025) in light of commercial, technological, and regulatory developments,” the review said.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones said adopting the five recommendations was a positive step for news publishers.

“We want to see news outlets and digital platforms come together and negotiate in good faith,” he said.

Last month, the Canadian government struck a deal with Google over use of news content in return for the tech giant paying $US100m ($150m) to publishers.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government wanted to ensure public interest journalism continued, especially with the growth of digital news. “Supporting these recommendations will help improve the framework overall and ensure Australian news media businesses are properly remunerated for their journalistic content through commercial deals with platforms,” she said.