Australia's decision to make Google and Facebook pay for news has been hailed by many as a triumph for journalism. The reality is a bit more complicated, though, says Kate Ferguson.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits Visy in Western Sydney Image: Asha Barbaschow/ZDNet
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that although global tech giants are changing the world, his government and many others globally cannot let them run it. People in free societies like Australia who go to ballot boxes, and go and they vote that s who should run the world, the people and citizens of the nations of the world, not big global tech giants, he told ZDNet. They produce amazing technology that does amazing things … and it s exciting, but at the end of the day, all of these things must be accountable to sovereign elected governments.
Australia’s parliament passed landmark legislation on February 25 requiring global digital giants to pay for local news content, in a move closely watched around the world.
This article was originally published on Verfassungsblog, the prestigious German academic and journalistic forum of debate on the emerging European constitutional space and beyond.
Since July 2020, the global news media industry has been looking at Australiaâs draft code, that would force Google and Facebook to negotiate with news publishers, pay for news, share data and advertising revenues. After a public consultation, feedback from the industry, and intensive lobbying from all sides, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (âACCCâ) News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code (âCodeâ) took shape. The Code has been approved by both Chambers on 25 February.
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