Australia passes law: Facebook, Google, and other companies must pay for news

The Australian Parliament passed a world-first law that mandates that digital giants like Facebook and Google pay local publishers for news content.

The legislation was passed this Thursday, and Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a statement that the new law will ensure that ‘content produced by news media companies can be fairly rewarded’. He stated: ‘This law is a major microeconomic reform.

This reform has attracted the attention of the world. Countries are watching the Australian Parliament’s approach. Australia’s move may trigger a round of ripple effects on a global scale, causing more governments to use similar regulatory measures, thereby limiting the power of large digital companies.

Regulators around the world have been paying close attention to the process of this legislation. Currently, governments in many countries are struggling to cope with the dominance of Facebook and Google in the online advertising field.

It is very likely that there will be more countries in the future. Develop more stringent regulatory measures for these companies. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he has discussed the new law with the leaders of India, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.

Previously, Google and Facebook, the two technology giants, had negotiated with Australia, hoping to obtain preferential policies. Alphabet’s Google said last year that if Australia passes the law, it will cause the company to shut down its search engine services in Australia.

Along with this, Facebook also blocked news about legislation on its Australian platform, and this company’s measure aroused dissatisfaction and condemnation from Morrison. After an 11-hour meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the Australian government agreed to amend the legislation, and the social media platform said it would restart news.

As part of the key concession, the government stated that it will consider allowing Google and Facebook to enter into commercial deals with news organizations before deciding whether these deals are legally bound, and will notify the two companies of the results one month in advance.

Google and Facebook platforms have also won more time to reach deals with news media publishers. Google has previously reached an independent agreement to pay news fees to a series of Australian publishers, including News Corporation, and Facebook is currently doing the same.

Friedenberg said: ‘The government is pleased to see Google and Facebook have made progress in reaching commercial arrangements with Australian news media companies.’ The Ministry of Finance of the country will review the new law within one year to ensure that it can perform its intended role.