Action, not rhetoric, on big tech

As recently as July, Anthony Albanese said social media companies such as Meta should pay for news content on their sites (copied from professional publishers and broadcasters) to pay for journalism “that’s so important”. Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones made the same point in December, after the government concluded that the news media bargaining code had been a success in leading to more than 30 commercial agreements. As many of these existing deals between big tech and media are up for renewal, it is time for action by both sides of federal politics in the run-up to the election.

After Meta walked away from the code negotiated by Josh Frydenberg for the Coalition in 2021, cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for Australian news publishers, the government threatened to invoke powers forcing the US-based company to negotiate new deals. It is yet to do so. For the sake of the quality of news reporting, it needs to do so. The opposition must make the same commitment. A press release will not suffice; it needs to release firm details.

Writing in these pages, opposition communications spokesman David Coleman points out that in July Mr Jones promised a “whole-of-government response” to Meta’s actions “in the near future”. But it has not materialised.

The government eventually will need to engage with Meta co-founder and chairman Mark Zuckerberg and senior Meta executives. History, including the implementation of the bargaining code led by the former Coalition government with bipartisan support, shows that change was achieved when Australia sent the clear message that it was putting tough action before tough words. Experience shows that when dealing with these platforms, the power imbalance makes them impossible to negotiate with, and they respond to confrontation rather than conversation.

So the productive conversation is likely to happen after Australia has chosen its course, not before.

Senior Labor and Coalition sources have confirmed policies targeting tech giants will be central themes of their election campaigns, chief political correspondent Geoff Chambers reports. Mr Coleman has promised a Dutton government would take “strong action” in dealing with big tech, as the Morrison government did with the media bargaining code and Online Safety Act. We look forward to the detail.

In its submission to the joint select committee inquiry into the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society, News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian, calls on the government to uphold the media code by ensuring big tech operators pay for the content they use. The submission also calls for big tech platforms to apply for and pay for a social licence to operate in Australia. The licence would fund programs to address the harms suffered by Australians, including children and young people, as a result of social media.

A platform’s refusal to apply for such a licence would mean it would have to leave Australia.

Big tech’s power should never be underestimated. Five of the largest big tech companies are worth seven times the total of Australia’s gross domestic product last year.

A watertight government plan, enacted with determination at every step, must be imposed to deal with such a significant public policy.