{"id":30076,"date":"2020-09-10T16:39:56","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T20:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=30076"},"modified":"2020-09-10T18:19:15","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T22:19:15","slug":"facebook-and-australias-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/10\/facebook-and-australias-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook and Australia’s News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Lyons<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The country’s proposed News Media Bargaining Code law, which is in draft form at present, stemmed from a 2019 inquiry that found tech giants<\/a> like Facebook and Google take too large a share of online advertising revenue from media organizations in Australia. The Treasurer of Australia ordered the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to develop a voluntary code of conduct<\/a> which would force the platforms to pay media companies. The ACCC told the government it seemed “unlikely” that a voluntary agreement could be reached, however.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed legislation, Google and Facebook would have to provide<\/a> publishers with advance notice of changes to their algorithms, with penalties for failing to comply.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Ben Thompson<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The actual draft code for this new regulation is here<\/a>; this is a bit impenetrable, as Australian law is generally enacted by hard-to-follow directions on inserting and excerpting various lines of text into existing regulation. The Explanatory Materials<\/a> that accompany the code are more helpful, but for the purposes of this Daily Update, I’m going to focus on this Q&A document<\/a> from the ACCC.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

What makes Google and Facebook different from, say, Twitter or email, when it comes to directing traffic to news media sites? The answer I suspect isn’t volume: it’s the fact that Google and Facebook make a lot of money, of which the Australian news media business feels entitled to[…]<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Do you see the absolute absurdity here? This language suggests that Google and Facebook are using their gatekeeping power to gouge news media businesses for sending traffic their way, when in fact they send traffic for free. As I noted in May<\/a>, if anyone should be getting paid in this relationship it is Google and Facebook (although, to be clear, I am not saying Google and Facebook should actually<\/em> be paid<\/a>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Facebook<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>, Slashdot<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The ACCC presumes that Facebook benefits most in its relationship with publishers, when in fact the reverse is true. News represents a fraction of what people see in their News Feed and is not a significant source of revenue for us. Still, we recognize that news provides a vitally important role in society and democracy, which is why we offer free tools and training to help media companies reach an audience many times larger than they have previously.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n