Australia Regulator Releases Draft Rules for Google, Facebook to Pay Media Companies
July 30 2020 - 8:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Cherney
SYDNEY--Australian authorities released a draft of new rules on
Friday that would enable media companies to seek payment from
Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google for content that is posted
to their websites.
The new rules would govern how negotiations between the digital
platforms and news businesses take place, the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission said. Under the rules, which
need to be passed by Australia's Parliament, media companies can
proceed to mediation and then to binding arbitration if no deal on
payment is reached.
"There is a fundamental bargaining power imbalance between news
media businesses and the major digital platforms, partly because
news businesses have no option but to deal with the platforms, and
have had little ability to negotiate over payment for their content
or other issues," ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.
The new rules would initially apply only to Facebook and Google,
but other digital platforms could be added if they attain a
bargaining-power imbalance with Australian media companies in the
future, the regulator said.
Late last year, the Australian government asked the regulator to
develop a voluntary code that would govern the relationship between
media and the digital platforms. Talks over payment issues stalled,
however, and in April the government asked the regulator to develop
a new set of mandatory rules.
The regulator said a public-comment period on the new rules will
run until Aug. 28, and final legislation will be introduced in
Parliament shortly thereafter.
Publishers have long sought compensation from Google and
Facebook, which collect ad revenue based on visits to their sites
and increase their traffic by including links to news articles. In
the past, the tech giants have resisted paying for content, instead
making donations through philanthropic arms and arguing that
publishers benefit by getting large amounts of traffic directed to
them.
Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 30, 2020 20:30 ET (00:30 GMT)
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