Google and Facebook’s war in Australia

The Australian Parliament has finally forced Internet companies to pay to show links to news articles.

The law is based on a report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which found that public interest in the press had declined in recent years, with revenue declining due to the loss of advertising, and advertising revenue increased exponentially for Google and Facebook.

According to the ACCC, the issue is the balance of power between the Australian media and computer companies. It therefore recommended to the government that a law be enacted to allow news organizations to negotiate financial rewards with digital sites in order to show their news in part or in full.

Creating messages is not cheap. To cover the costs, media companies compile ads with news.

But the internet changed everything. Now advertising companies want to pay for Facebook and Google because they allow each user to customize the ads.

On the recommendation of the ACCC, the Australian Government created the Compulsory Negotiation Bill for the Media and Digital Sites, which was passed by the Australian Parliament and signed into law on 2 March 2021 with a view to paving the way for better negotiations with digital. Giants for Australian media companies.

The best print of the new law

To qualify for compulsory trading, the Australian sales outlet must be registered with the Australian Media and Communication Authority (ACMA), but not all news organizations can register.

Only public interest news organizations can register, so sports, fashion or entertainment news organizations cannot use this law. Independent journalists are also excluded.

Once the news organization is approved by the ACMA, it may request a financial agreement from “designated digital sites” that publish links to its messages or display part or all of its messages.

The Australian Minister of Communications is responsible for naming designated digital sites based on the balance of power and their contribution to the sustainability of Australian news development.

If the designated digital site and news organization cannot reach an agreement, the ACCC may initiate an arbitration process for negotiations.

What does this law really promote?

As part of the agreement, designated sites are required to share visitor data with news businesses and details of search methods they use.

So this law, what you are promoting, is the transfer of money and personal information from big digital monopolies to big news monopolies, especially News Corp. Security.

In the weeks before the law was passed, Google threatened to shut down its search server in Australia, and Facebook tried to remove Australian messages from the platform.

But the strategy did not work properly as a large group of non-news sites declined and the Australian government threatened to remove all federal advertising from the platform.

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Finally, within a week of the law being approved, Google and Facebook announced that they would be signing business deals with two news monopolies, News Corp and Nine, to avoid problems with the law.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants News Corp to help it win the last election, instead of regulating the privacy of digital sites’ accumulated user data or forcing these companies to pay taxes in Australia for the profits they make. Australian customers.

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Hernan Terrasino

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