Australian Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, announces the clearance of the Bill. Image Credit: Twitter@JoshFrydenberg
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Australia vs Facebook and Google

Correspondent TCP March 2, 2021

Facebook and Google to share advertising revenue with Australian News Agencies

Canberra, Mar 1: In a first, Australia’s House of Representatives, with full support from the opposition, passed a new media law – News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, on 25th Feb 2021, and became the first country in the world to legally make Facebook and Google pay the news media agencies for the news content on their platform.

The law requires digital platforms including Google and Facebook to negotiate with the news media agencies and agree on a fair compensation price for the value generated by the news and media content on their platforms. If both parties do not reach a mutually agreed upon decision, then a government appointed arbitrator (lawyer) will make the decision on the price to be paid by the tech giants.

Google’s response

  • Both the tech giants opposed the Bill (In Australia, if a proposed bill is passed in the senate and then by the House of Representatives, it becomes a law) at first and called it ‘unworkable’.
  • On Jan 22nd, 2021 Google threatened to block its search engine in Australia if it were forced to pay to the news agencies.
  • It, however, did nothing of the sorts and recently signed deals with local news agencies like Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media worth AU$ 60million (INR 340 crores). It has also signed a deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for an undisclosed amount.

Facebook’s Response!

  • On 18th Feb 2021, Facebook retaliated with a news blackout and restricted Australian public’s access to news sites on its platform. It even blocked Australian Facebook Pages from sharing the news. It went as far as to block BOM (Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology), state health departments, fire and rescue services, charities, and other emergency services. Facebook’s move was widely discredited. Facebook unblocked Australian news on 24th Feb 21.
  • Facebook and Australian Government, have since negotiated and Facebook agreed to pay to the local news agencies on 24th Feb.
  • It has also signed a deal with Seven West Media and is in talks with other news agencies.

Revenue Generated by the news sites on Facebook and Google’s Platform:
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), a market regulator, investigated the tech firm’s online revenue generation. It revealed that for every AU$100 spent by the Australian advertisers, AU$ 49 went to Google, AU$ 24 went to Facebook and AU$ 19 to all other websites.

  • Even though Australia is the first country to pass a law on the subject, several countries are considering the renumeration (payment) model.
  • Google agreed to pay the French publishers for news content in ast major copyright deal on Jan 21 ,
Australian Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, announces the clearance of the Bill. Image Credit: Twitter@JoshFrydenberg
Australian Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, announces the clearance of the Bill. Image Credit: Twitter@JoshFrydenberg
  • Even though Australia is the first country to pass a law on the subject, several countries are considering the renumeration (payment) model.
  • Google agreed to pay the French publishers for news content in ast major copyright deal on Jan 21 ,2021. But unlike Australia, instead of agreeing on one payment model, Google will negotiate individual licenses with the media groups.
  • Indian Newspaper Society wrote a letter to Google India and proposed 85% of the advertisement revenue generated by the news sites on Google to be shared with the news agencies.
  • Countries such as Canada, the UK, the EU have shown interest in Australia’s law.