Australia just passed a new Social Media Law that has dialed down the intensity between the country’s and Facebook’s battle. The new law requires all giant social media firms like Google and Facebook to pay for news content on their pages. This means local media news outlets will be paid for the news they put up. This includes publishers as well. The payment would be charged even if the news has to be displayed in their search results too. The move had been widely expected now.
The Government of Australia also introduced a handful of amendments at the last minute to their proposed bill. The bill is widely known as News Media & Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. Officials have also said that the law will be under review by the Treasury for at least a year from the commencement. It is noticeable that this law has been inside the Australian courts for over a year now. Both Google, as well as Facebook have been fighting this. There was no room for any agreement in the middle ground— only either party could win.
Officials Spoke About The Social Media Law
Josh Frydenberg, the Treasurer, gave a joint statement along with Paul Fletcher, the Communications Minister. They said of the new Social Media Law to help “ensure” that the businesses in news media are “remunerated” fairly for all the content generated by them. This would also help them to “sustain” the public’s interest in journalism in the country. The government also mentioned that both parties would get time for 2 months as mediation. This will be before they resort to the last option of arbitration.
In the joint statement on the Social Media Law, they also appreciated Facebook and Google when ending up in w commercial arrangement with the media businesses in Australia.
