General News
13 December, 2024
The PM's move to bring Meta back to negotiating table is welcome
The Albanese government's approach must receive bipartisan support.
The government's new approach to getting tech giants back to the negotiating table to pay their fair share for using Australian news on their platforms should be cautiously welcomed.
The plan to hit companies such as Meta, TikTok and Google with a levy unless they renegotiate contracts with news publishers seems a nuanced and well-considered one.
It builds on the former Morrison government's approach, but it takes off the table the threat of "designation", which could've resulted in huge fines for companies that did not do deals.
It was that prospect that had primed Meta to threaten the nuclear option of blocking Australian news as it has done in Canada.
The Albanese government's approach, outlined on Thursday, should and must receive bipartisan support. It would be bizarre for the Coalition to oppose it, given it takes its cues from its own strong policy response.
However, the sands are fast running through the hourglass for the Australian news industry, which has been commercially ravaged by the social media giants for two decades. For that reason, it is vital this proposal is legislated before the upcoming election.
As media companies, including ACM, the publisher of this masthead, have said repeatedly, time spent kicking the can down the road is time that leads to more job losses in an industry vital to communities, particularly rural and regional ones.
Forcing big tech to pay its fair share is not the answer to all the challenges facing Australian media, but it recognises that something needs to be done.
As ACM managing director Tony Kendall said: "Like other news providers, we have already been forced to make some difficult decisions about our newspapers in order to sustain our business.
"We are cautiously hopeful that this announcement will lead to more support for the news sources that Australians trust, and we will immediately begin discussions with Meta and TikTok to negotiate fair commercial terms for our trusted content."
Under the Morrison government in 2021, Meta and Google agreed to pay for the news which they, in effect, republished.
The bargaining code devised then contained the power to fine tech companies 10 per cent of their Australian revenue if they did not negotiate with the news companies in good faith.
When the agreements that flowed from the code expired, Meta withdrew and threatened to play hardball by taking news content off its sites completely, as it did in Canada.
In Canada, where news is blocked on Meta platforms, one government minister said: "We're going to keep standing our ground. After all, if the government can't stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who will?"
We endorse that sentiment. And Australian taxpayers should too.
Even if they give little thought to the media companies that help hold their communities together, the should care that some of the world's biggest companies siphon off huge profits from our shores without paying any meaningful tax.
The government's intervention indicates that it accepts good journalism is important for democracy and for the Australian community - and, therefore, should be paid for. It will face huge opposition from the tech giants and, potentially, from their host countries.
With the bipartisan support this legislation must receive, so too must come resolve to stick up for Australia and withstand any commercial, legal or diplomatic pressure to cave in to rich bullies.