By Justin Hendry on Feb 25, 2021 11:26AM
With Facebook, Google concessions.
Australia’s controversial media bargaining code has become law after the underpinning legislation passed through parliament with a raft of amendments favouring Big Tech companies.
The
Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill was signed off by the house of representative on Thursday after clearing the senate last night.
The code will force designated companies to
negotiate payments with news organisations, with a binding “final offer” arbitration process to be used if no agreement can be reached.
Google has already reached a number of deals with news organisations, including Nine, News Corp, Guardian Australian and Seven West Media.
Australia’s parliament passed landmark legislation Thursday requiring global digital giants to pay for local news content, in a move closely watched around the world.
A week after Facebook grabbed eyeballs globally by blocking news publishers and turning off news-sharing on its platform in Australia, the country’s parliament has approved legislation that makes it mandatory for platform giants like Facebook and Google to negotiate to remunerate local news publishers for their content, to take account of how journalism is shared […]