According to The Guardian, Australia’s competition watchdog has promised to even up the market imbalance between news organizations and tech giants. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is seeking feedback on a wide range of issues with a mandatory code of conduct, which will be in place later this year.
The rules will force Google and Facebook to pay for news content. “A collective boycott, or the threat of a collective boycott, may encourage each of Google and Facebook to offer news media businesses more appropriate remuneration for the use of their content,” the concepts paper which canvasses different mechanisms stated.
ACCC chair Rod Sims says the new regime would allow media organisations to bargain with tech giants over fees. “We need to even up the bargaining,” he said on Tuesday, May 19.
“We need to give that teeth and make that work, and see as best we can to come up with the sort of outcome you’d have in a competitive market.”
Rod Sims, said the tight timetable had been influenced by the urgency of the media crisis due to the collapse of advertising revenue during the pandemic, but resolutions may not come in time for some media organisations.
“Covid is a force majeure event of all time,” Sims said. “Clearly it’s affecting local news. No point having a local pub advertise in the paper if the pub is closed. The code will help, whether it helps in time I just don’t know.”
Full Content: The Guardian
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