Australia Reveals New Draft Code Governing Facebook, Google's Relationship With Media

Tech giants Facebook and Google may be forced to pay for the use of news content published by traditional media outlets as part of efforts to create fair competition, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st July, 2020) Tech giants Facebook and Google may be forced to pay for the use of news content published by traditional media outlets as part of efforts to create fair competition, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced on Friday.

"There is a very unequal bargaining position between Australian news media businesses that produce original content and the digital platforms. And so we as a government tasked the ACCC [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission] to undertake a detailed world-leading study which they did over a period of some 18 months, and their recommendation was for a code to govern those relationships between the digital platforms and the Australian news media businesses," Frydenberg said at a press conference.

According to the treasurer, for every $100 spent on online advertising, Google receives 47 percent, Facebook receives 24 percent, and just 29 percent goes to other participants.

The new code will look to address this imbalance and give Australian businesses a fair chance to compete by forcing Facebook and Google to pay for the use of news content, the treasurer said.

According to The Guardian newspaper, tech firms may face fines of up to $7.2 million or 10 percent of annual turnover for breaches of this new code. In a blog post in May, Google claimed that the mandatory code may force them to pay upwards of $430 million annually to Australian media companies.

At the start of April, the News Corp Australia conglomeration announced that it would cut 60 of its local newspapers amid the ongoing pandemic.