{"id":101968,"date":"2023-12-17T12:52:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-17T12:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritycovernews.com\/?p=101968"},"modified":"2023-12-17T12:52:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T12:52:03","slug":"facebook-and-google-to-face-accc-oversight-under-tougher-rules-for-using-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritycovernews.com\/lifestyle\/facebook-and-google-to-face-accc-oversight-under-tougher-rules-for-using-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook and Google to face ACCC oversight under tougher rules for using news"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Google and Facebook will come under stricter oversight from the nation\u2019s competition watchdog under federal plans to ensure the global giants compensate Australian news businesses to use their content.<\/p>\n
The federal government will draft new laws to toughen the regime and encourage the digital media companies to negotiate in good faith with news providers, clearing the way for commercial deals next year.<\/p>\n
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A revenue stream worth about $200 million a year for Australian news providers is at stake.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Reuters<\/cite><\/p>\n The decision is a strong sign from Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones that they expect the digital companies to reach new deals under the mandatory bargaining code set up by federal law in early 2021.<\/p>\n The move comes as Facebook shuts down news services in Canada because of a dispute over a similar regime in that country, while Google is working with the Canadian rules after dropping threats to block news links.<\/p>\n Jones said the government could force digital platforms like Google and Facebook to make deals with the media by \u201cdesignating\u201d them under federal law, making it clear they were expected to reach agreements.<\/p>\n \u201cWe already have the power to designate digital platforms and we are prepared to use it,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to see news outlets and digital platforms come together and negotiate in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n At stake is a revenue stream worth about $200 million a year for Australian news providers at a time when they say they need fair compensation in new deals with Google and Facebook next year to compensate them for news content that appears on their platforms.<\/p>\n Nine Entertainment, the publisher of this masthead, is seeking to negotiate new deals alongside media companies such as Seven West Media, NewsCorp Australia, Guardian Australia<\/em> and others.<\/p>\n The government will issue a formal response on Monday to a Treasury inquiry into the news bargaining code that recommended changes to the law to help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) monitor the market.<\/p>\n Jones and Rowland said the government had agreed to the proposal to give the ACCC the power to demand information from the industry as part of regular reports that will help examine the outcomes from the code.<\/p>\n While the government has not released the detail of the compulsory information-gathering powers, it said it expected the new measures to help ensure fair negotiations with news providers.<\/p>\n \u201cMany commercial agreements between Australian news businesses and digital platforms will expire over the next year,\u201d the government said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government expects that digital platforms with significant bargaining power will negotiate in good faith towards the renewal of existing agreements, and potentially new agreements, with Australian news businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Former ACCC chair Rod Sims concluded, in a report for the Judith Nielsen Institute, that the last round of deals were worth about $200 million a year to the news providers.<\/p>\n The federal move comes at a sensitive time because the Australian regime was seen as a global precedent in 2021 and led to similar measures overseas including the Online News Act in Canada, which is now the subject of a fierce dispute.<\/p>\n Facebook\u2019s owner, Meta, has pulled out of news in Canada since August, in an echo of its news ban in Australia in February 2021.<\/p>\n Meta reversed the news ban at Facebook in Australia when then treasurer Josh Frydenberg reached a compromise on the bargaining code to give the digital giants the ability to negotiate commercial deals with each media company to avoid being \u201cdesignated\u201d in the federal law and subject to more onerous regulation.<\/p>\n The Canadian approach forces the digital media companies to submit to a single national system with a fixed payment.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Australian government engaged with Google and Meta to develop provisions for platforms and traditional media to make deals outside the code, the Canadian government provides no option for designated entities to separately negotiate with traditional media,\u201d wrote Australian National University research fellow Tanvi Nair in an analysis in October.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder the Canadian law, platforms will be required to pay per link to a news article without room for negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n Start<\/i><\/strong> the<\/strong> day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nMost Viewed in Politics<\/h2>\n
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