Australia is to introduce a bill into parliament that might force Facebook and Google to pay news outlets for featuring their journalism.
The Australian government said the “world-first” laws would mandate a process for news outlets to barter “fair” payments for his or her work.
Currently, a power imbalance favors the big tech firms, the government said.
The tech giants have vehemently opposed the laws, which they assert will damage reader access.
Facebook recently threatened to stop posting news stories on the site by Australian users if the bill went forward.Google also said that under the amendment, its web services would be “dramatically worse” In Australia, it has carried out an ambitious publicity program, claiming that the legislation will be harmful.
Tech giants have faced demands worldwide to pay extra for news stories hosted on their websites as more readers have moved online in recent years.
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On Tuesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that it is a massive reform. And the whole world is watching what happens here in Australia.
He said that “vital to our democracy” was a strong and diverse media sector.
The bill will be presented on Wednesday in the House of Representatives, but, local media reported, it is unlikely to be approved before the new year.
Since 2005, the government reported, Australian print media have experienced a 75 percent decrease in advertisement sales. This year, several Australian news agencies have shut down or cut staff.
How the code function?
It needs a different mediation mechanism that, if their payment agreements with Google and Facebook are not going smoothly, news organizations will fall back on.
That code would compel a settlement by “final offer arbitration” – where each side would apply their offer to neutral judges to decide following months of no agreement being made.
They face fines of up to A$10m (£5.5m; $7.4), 10 percent of their Australian revenue, or twice the gain they got if the tech companies refuse to comply.
Since the draft code was published in July, the government has announced that negotiations have been held, including ‘constructive’ talks with the tech giants.
Australia plans to form tech giants buy news.
The bill includes two public broadcasters from Australia, ABC and SBS, and Google and Facebook provisions to share news reports with their newspapers and user details.
After July, the government’s compromises include removing Instagram and Google News from the list of impacted sites and halving a warning period of 28 days for platforms to alert algorithm updates to news outlets.
