The Australian parliament adopted, Thursday February 25, the law obliging the giants of the tech to pay the media for the resumption of their contents.
The text was easily adopted after Facebook and Google reached agreements to avoid being subjected to binding arbitration.
It paves the way for these two major digital players to invest tens of millions of dollars in local content deals.
This law could prove to be a model for resolving conflicts between tech giants and regulators around the world to balance relations between traditional media, in great financial difficulty, and the behemoths that dominate the Internet and capture a significant portion of advertising revenue.
The government said the law would ensure that news organizations "are fairly compensated for the content they generate, thereby helping to keep public service journalism alive in Australia."
Google will now pay for news content that appears in its new tool called Google News Showcase, and Facebook will have to pay vendors that appear on its News product, which is due to roll out in Australia later this year.
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At least $ 1 billion over the next three years
A standoff has pitted Facebook against the Australian government.
After blocking the publication of links to news articles from local or international media in response to the bill, the owner of Instagram and WhatsApp has finally backed down, sealing a last-minute deal with Canberra.
Mark Zuckerberg's group has announced that it will invest "at least" $ 1 billion in news content over the next three years.
This new envelope, communicated on Wednesday in a blog post by Nick Clegg, the public affairs manager of the social media giant, is in addition to the $ 600 million injected into the media since 2018.
Facebook absolutely recognizes quality journalism is at the heart of how open societies function — informing and empowering citizens & holding the powerful to account.
That's why we've invested $ 600M to support the news industry, & plan at least $ 1B more over the next three years.
- Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) February 24, 2021
Google, for its part, had already agreed to pay "significant sums" in return for the content of Rupert Murdoch's press group, News Corp., which was pushing for the new Australian law.
Facebook and Google now have two more months to strike other deals that would avoid binding arbitration.
With AFP
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