A government arbitrator will set rates tech giants have to pay
Sydney: The Australian parliament on Thursday passed a news media and digital platforms mandatory bargaining code that will make it compulsory for Alphabet Inc s Google and Facebook Inc to pay media companies for content.
The code will be reviewed within one year of its commencement, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said in a joint statement. The code will ensure that news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public-interest journalism in Australia, they said.
The passage of the code, developed after extensive analysis from Australia s anti-trust regulator and almost three years of public consultation, may offer encouragement to countries such as Britain and Canada which are planning similar laws.
Highlights
The proposed law makes tech companies pay for news content
Australia will offer four amendments to the law
New Delhi: Days after Facebook removed pages of various news outlets from its platform, the standoff between the social media giant and the Australian government seems heading to a consensus.
Federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday (February 23) said that Facebook will restore the news pages after the government offered amendments to the proposed law which aims to make tech companies pay for the media content they host on their platforms.
Australia has introduced legislation challenging Facebook and Google s dominance in the news content market.