Australia’s parliament officially passed a landmark bill on Thursday that effectively forces tech titans to pay for news content following intense public opposition from Facebook and Google.
The first measure of its kind cleared the last hurdle when parliament passed a series of changes made to appease Facebook that prevented Australian users from viewing or sharing news articles last week.
Australian lawmakers said the law going into effect will address the “imbalance in negotiating power” between tech platforms and news outlets, even if the final form gives Facebook and Google more leeway to negotiate.
“The code ensures that news media companies are fairly rewarded for the content they generate, thereby supporting public interest journalism in Australia,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Secretary of Communications Paul Fletcher said in a joint statement.
Officials pushed the law forward even after Facebook imposed a news outage lasting about five days in Australia, an unprecedented move that sparked widespread outrage.
Google had similarly threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia if the bill were to become law, but the Silicon Valley giant eventually took the more conciliatory approach of making deals with publishers, including News Corp., which owns The Post.
Facebook lifted its news block this week after reaching a compromise with Australian lawmakers on legislative changes. A major change gave Frydenberg the discretion to decide that Facebook or Google need not be subject to the code if they “make a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry”.
The companies will also have more time to negotiate with publishers before being forced into deals through arbitration, a process where a third party would decide how much the tech platforms should pay.
“The Australian government has agreed to changes that will encourage fair negotiations without the looming threat of heavy-handed and unpredictable arbitration,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs, said in a blog post this week.
Rod Sims, the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission who originally drafted the law, said the legislator-approved version would achieve its goal, even if the tech giants take a while to strike deals with publishers.
[These] things take time, ”said Sims. “Google and Facebook don’t have unlimited resources to talk to everyone. I think this has a long way to go. “
With pole wires