Tech giants must pay for content

The Albanese government’s move to impose heavy financial penalties on Facebook and other social media companies if they refuse to negotiate deals with Australian news companies and pay to use their content online is an important step in the public interest.

It is also important to set a standard for practice in other countries. News coverage, debate and information have rarely mattered more, and tech giants are not entitled to gouge content produced professionally, often at a high cost, by media companies. Over time, such a trend would leave Australians with fewer news outlets and less well informed.

Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, who has ministerial oversight of the matter, is right when he says the government wants to ensure companies such as Meta continue to make a contribution to public interest journalism in Australia. Social media platforms had benefited from the content produced by news media businesses, he said on Thursday.

Strengthening the principle of commercial negotiations between tech platforms and Australian media companies will provide a foundation for rebuilding the media industry after the loss of an estimated 1000 jobs this year, said Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp Australasia, publisher of The Australian. It will help ensure Australian news media businesses continue to deliver inquiring and professional journalism, which has never been more important to cohesive, democratic societies.

The Albanese government’s move comes after Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, pulled out of numerous deals in February with media companies made under the ­Coalition-era media bargaining code. The deals were worth an estimated $70m a year to the industry.

As reported, Labor aims to incentivise tech giants to renegotiate with media companies rather than face the more costly, onerous option of ­financial penalties being imposed through the tax system. But the government will need to be resolute in imposing hefty levies if the tech giants refuse to negotiate in good faith.

Experience shows that change was achieved when the Coalition, with bipartisan support from Labor, sent a clear message that it was putting tough action before tough words. The power imbalance can make such platforms difficult to negotiate with. The government needs to be prepared that if the tech giants fail to respond to conversation, it will not back away from stern financial measures.