Over the past 3 years, the Australian regulatory authority has been preparing for a new bargain with big tech firms. By asking them to pay for content on their platforms and matters kind of went out of control in the past few weeks, Google wants to end this for once and for all and agreed to pay but Facebook will not. Why? And What is Australia trying to accomplish? Buckle up I’m now going to explain everything you’d like to know.
First, Australia’s media landscape is operated by a handful of Kingpins. They hold significant political power and have forced the regulatory authority to create a law to force tech giants(i.e Facebook and Google) to directly pay publishers for content.
What did Google do?
Google has signed deals with a number of publishers to pay for content in Google News Showcase.
The deal is to make sure news links remain in search results. “Removing these links from Google would collapse the monopoly's market cap in Australia, and paves way for more rivals,â€
What did Facebook do?
With only 4% of posts on its systems which is related to journalism, so Facebook decided it won’t be worth it to fall into yet another agreement with publishers; instead, the linking and sharing of news and materials related to journalism are no longer allowed in Australia.
What will happen next?
• Google has opened itself to every other country rolling out similar deals, and the basic principle of the open web that hyperlinks can be freely displayed on any website just took a body blow. From anyone's point of view, this Australian law would make the internet impractical.
• Facebook is pushing publishers to decide if the value it brings is worth it or not. Without any official information from publications, the platform could possibly harvest more misinformation but this may also be an incentive for people to find their news on other channels, well less toxic ones(i.e: websites, newsletters)
Australian’s move is meant to support journalism
The law doesn’t actually say that publishers have to allocate money to journalists.
A developer from Forbes suggested a more distinctive move:
1) Tax Big Tech based on revenue, and allocate some of that money to support journalism;
2) Create a business code that forces publishers to create and support jobs.
As is, he believes the current bargaining code might lead to an “exhortation.â€
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