Scott Morrison to enlist global allies in Big Tech fight

Scott Morrison will seek to build support from world leaders for Australia’s news media bargaining code when he attends international forums this year.

Scott Morrison at the National Press Club in Canberra on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

Scott Morrison will seek to build support from world leaders for Australia’s news media bargaining code when he meets his overseas counterparts and attends international forums this year, declaring a sustainable media landscape is vital to a functioning democracy.

“I would like to see more alignment between the world’s economies on these sorts of things (the media bargaining code),” the Prime Minister said on Monday. “We want to work (with) the companies on these sorts of things; we want a practical outcome. But the world has changed.

“Digital technology has affected that, and we’re trying to ensure that our regulatory system keeps pace with that change to ensure that journalists can do their jobs, not just in taxpayer-funded organisations but commercial ones too.”

In June, Mr Morrison is due to travel to Britain for the annual G7 summit. The member countries — the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada — are also wrestling with the issue of reining in the market power of the Big Tech companies, and they are closely monitoring the Australian government’s push to create a fairer commercial landscape for media organisations.

The Prime Minister’s remarks follow revelations that he fielded a call from Microsoft boss Satya Nadella last week, during which the US-based chief executive said his company was well equipped to further expand its Bing search ­engine in the Australian market should Google follow through on its threat to leave the country ­because of the news media code.

Under the media code legislation — which is likely to be passed by the Senate, possibly as early as this month — Google would be required to pay compensation to media companies for the use of their content, a scenario the tech giant says is “untenable”.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, who also participated in the Zoom call between Mr Morrison and Mr Nadella, said it was likely that other tech players would fill the void by Google should the company choose to exit the Australian market.

“We’re a significant market. What we can expect is if Google were to leave … there are other market participants; it will be an attractive market opportunity. And we can expect to see investment by other players, and that’s certainly the takeaway from the meeting with Microsoft,” Mr Fletcher said on Monday.

Google has 94 per cent of the Australian search engine market, compared with Bing’s 3.7 per cent.

Director of the Centre for Responsible Technology Peter Lewis.

Earlier on Monday, a Senate committee hearing into the news media bargaining code was told that the legislation does not go far enough and should be broadened to force the tech giants to reveal their mysterious algorithms.

Speaking at a committee hearing on Monday, Matt Nguyen, the policy lead for technology advocacy group Reset Australia, said the bargaining code should be widened to help fight fake news on Google and Facebook.

Mr Nguyen said the regulator should examine how the tech ­giants’ algorithms monetise and promote disinformation ahead of accurate information.

“The past few weeks, we have experienced the sobering power these platforms have over our lives: Big Tech has threatened to pull services from the country; they have altered the content that thousands of Australians see, in the name of a media stunt; and they have actively used their monopoly control over information markets to try to influence Australian opinion,” he said.

The director of the Centre for Responsible Technology, Peter Lewis, told the hearing into the mandatory media bargaining code that the federal government must stand up to the “bullies” of Google and Facebook in order to maintain a sustainable democracy.

“Australia is being confronted with Big Tech’s big stick — the threat to kill one in order to warn 100. Chairman Mao would have approved,” Mr Lewis said.

Additional reporting: David Swan