Technology giants such as Google and Facebook have been making money by setting up online platforms for the public to access news and information. The Australian government plans to implement new laws requiring these technology companies to pay local media for news content. Finance Minister Josh Frydenberg said Sunday (24) that the government plans to lead the world in regulating social media and providing online search companies, legislation that has caused dissatisfaction with Google and Facebook.
Australia’s parliament will debate the new law, if the two giant companies and the government can not reach an agreement, parliament will make the final arbitration, decided Google and Facebook to pay for the news media to provide content. The two companies earlier threatened to remove the Australian Google page, Facebook will delete all Australian users can originally see the news content in the social platform H dynamic page.
Google was earlier revealed that users entered specific search phrases, some of the relevant Australian news pages will be hidden, users can not get the corresponding news on the platform.
Finance Minister Feldenberg said the government has been working with local competition regulators for two years to study regulations that would require these tech giants to pay local news agencies. He said these technology giants said that if the proportion of clicks on news media, only a small percentage of the total clicks on the content provided by the company, the cost will only be reflected in proportion to the decision by an independent arbitrator, said the two giants do not have to worry too much.
Feldenberg also pointed out that the government’s position is supported by media organizations and public opinion alone. Eighty percent of those polled said they were “annoyed” by the possibility of the Australian search being removed by KERN. Feldenberg said, “It seems that the blatant threat by these dot-com giants to pull out of Australia last week will only harm their own interests if Canberra insists that the legislation is passed.” The bill has the support of the parties in Parliament.
Feldenberg added, “I think these giant companies inevitably have to pay for news content, the choice of Australians is to regulate technology companies to facilitate ‘when the world leader’, we can decide to lead the world, otherwise other countries have this practice, we are also willing to follow. “
Facebook believes that Australia’s regulation is “not feasible” in the current way, asking the government to give the company a six-month grace period before the official implementation of the new law, and the authorities to continue discussions.
Google said it can only accept arbitration with “reasonable gate-keeping” to ensure that the fees paid to news agencies are reasonable, but the company believes that the Australian model is flawed because the government only considers the costs of news agencies, ignoring Google’s operations.
Facebook said earlier that news coverage accounts for less than 5% of the content users see on their dynamic pages, and opposed the government’s legislation on the grounds that it was not profitable, but the Australian government believes that the media needs financial support to promote democracy, and there are reasons to legislate to protect the smooth operation of news agencies.
Recent Comments