Australia set to enact bill making Facebook, Google pay for news

The proposal to require Facebook and other big tech firms to pay for news, has passed its last major parliamentary hurdle in Australia, and is now expected to become law.

Australia's Senate has passed the proposal that would see big tech companies pay for news, or be subject to binding arbitration if they cannot reach a deal with publishers. The upper chamber voted to accept the bill with the amendments agreed on following Facebook's banning of news pages in protest.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the bill will now return to the Australian parliament's lower chamber, the House of Representatives. This body previously passed the unamended version, so it is expected to agree to this edition.

The House of Representatives may vote on the bill as soon as Thursday, February 25. If passed, it will then become law once it is signed by Australia's governor-general.

Facebook agreed to resume access to news pages in the region after the government agreed to certain amendments. These included specifying a two-month period for negotiations before an arbitration process begins.

It also allows for the Australian government to effectively make an exemption for Facebook, if the social media giant can demonstrate that it has made a "significant contribution" to local journalism.

While the bill, and the controversy around it, has appeared to chiefly concentrate on Facebook and Google, it's expected to apply to all large tech firms. And it may prove to be a model that other countries and states will adopt.

13 Comments

22july2013 3725 comments · 11 Years

About 3 years ago

Facebook agreed to resume access to news pages in the region after the government agreed to certain amendments.
So Facebook is big enough to negotiate with governments on how their laws are written? Is Australia going to consult with Facebook on all future laws too?

wood1208 2933 comments · 10 Years

What about paying each whose information is used to target with adv where Google,Facebook make money ?

wood1208 said:

What about paying each whose information is used to target with adv where Google,Facebook make money ?

I would love to know what you are saying, but even after reading your post 5 times, I can't figure it out. Sorry.

etiquette 8 comments · 3 Years

”pay for news”

I think it would be fair to mention in the subject and at least in the article that the law makes Facebook and Google pay for *links to news*.

The law also forces them to show these links in search results (Google) or in the timeline as people post links (Facebook).

And Facebook has to pay even if journalists share their own work there. Probably also in the case newspapers themselves post the links.

So: Facebook and Google are not publishing newspaper content for free anywhere, as “make them pay for news” makes one believe. This is about links and the short snippets they might show alongside.

Just wondering when everybody must pay if you link to someone else’s work. That’s kinda the purpose of the World Wide Web.

(yes Facebook especially sucks, but it doesn’t make this law right)

muthuk_vanalingam 1367 comments · 8 Years

22july2013 said:

wood1208 said:

What about paying each whose information is used to target with adv where Google,Facebook make money ?

I would love to know what you are saying, but even after reading your post 5 times, I can't figure it out. Sorry.

Facebook and Google are making money by using people's information to show them targeted advertisements. The OP's question is - How about Google/Facebook paying back to the people whose data was used by Google/Facebook to make money?