Summary

• The Australian Government asked ACCC to make a code draft regarding the compensation for the news content that Google and Facebook use cost-free.
• The final News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code draft became available to the public on 31 July 2020.
• The Legislation’s main focus stays on the local news outlets’ ability to ask for a fair benefit for their content.
• Any digital platform that shows a great payment disbalance with the Australian media outlets will need to abide by the proposed regulation.
• There are a few criteria, the news channels need to satisfy if they want to be recognised for the new legislation.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had been urged to create a new set of rules that would regulate the news distribution on digital platforms, particularly Google and Facebook.

Earlier on 20 April, the government had notified that it had requested ACCC to create a mandatory code of conduct. The draft code got published for the public on 31 July 2020. Also, corresponding discussions were supposed to be completed by 28 August 2020, with the final Government’s decision delivered shortly after.

Do read; ACCC Drops Report Suggesting Changes for Google and Facebook

The Australian Government wanted (and still wants) to regulate the news flow online, essentially asking big companies to pay for the content in case they want to publish it.

The idea was to give a choice to both parties (digital platforms and news distributors) to discuss the payment matter, so the news that got published could be fairly compensated for, not just published for Google and Facebook’s profit only.

ALSO READ: Australian News Media to Negotiate with Google And Facebook Post Adoption of Draft Mandatory Code

What platforms could be affected?

In essence, all platforms could be affected by the proposed Legislation.

If the Treasury decides that a certain digital platform needs to comply with the code, the Company will be required to obey the code standards. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will further assess if the media outlet is entitled to contribute to the Legislation.

For now, Google and Facebook are in the centre of attention for the regulation, as they appear to have the biggest disbalance with the local news.

According to the ACCC’s report, the proposed regulation is necessary for maintaining a healthy democracy and strong media outlets.

It is expected that both parties should discuss the arrangements in good faith.

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Which media outlets can participate?

There are a few criteria that news businesses need to satisfy in order to be eligible for the participation within the regulation.

First and foremost, the businesses need to serve Australian citizens and need to be running from Australia.

Producing mainly ‘core news’ and distributing it online is crucial for the media participation in the code. That means the news needs to be of a significant meaning, particularly in the interest of the Australian audience. For example, current and foreign affairs qualify in the ‘core news’ category.

The news channels need to follow the outmost professional standards of journalism. Independent Media Council and Press Council are a couple of editorial standards that are widely recognised in the Australian media landscape.

Last but not least, the business must be independent from any third parties, especially anyone involved in politics or with any political party. Finally, the business needs to earn at least A$150,000 in their annual profit.

If the media outlet gets approved for participating in the Legislation, digital platforms need to compensate them for any content, not just ‘core news’.

The Legislation is believed to be most helpful for small and regional news businesses in Australia which may not be aware of all the information they can access in order to get more online audience by using that data for the online public.

The media outlets could speak as an individual or a group of news businesses, being more cost-effective if they spoke as a collective. They have a 90-days deadline for discussing any problematic matter, with a mandatory mediation in the first 11 weeks.

Also Read; Global Digital Titans and Fall-out with Australian Media Companies

Google and Facebook

If the mentioned code becomes a law, Facebook is threatening to put a ban on publishing any news content on its platform – including both businesses and private users. National and international news will be included in the ban.

Publishing on Instagram will also be forbidden as a part of the affair.

Facebook believes that the legislation will be more harmful to the local news businesses, saying that the Australian Government misinterprets the dynamic online.

They think that the media outlets are aware of how their business with the social media works, as the media itself decides to publish their content on both Facebook and Google to get a better reach. Facebook stated that their revenue is not affected by the news, as the published news is just a small piece of all news that could be found on the media businesses’ web.

According to Facebook, they have already been supporting small businesses in their own way and had engaged with ACCC about the matter.

They estimated that Facebook News Feed brings A$200 million to the Australian media publishers, with an estimated 2.3 billion clicks from January to May in 2020.

On the other hand, Google thinks that Australians will not be able to have an Internet search like they used to. The proposed law could affect the algorithms used for all searches, which would mean that only big media houses will get the most revenue.

Australian YouTube search could also be affected, as the most paid videos will have a priority instead of the most popular ones.

Google’s managing director in Australia, Mel Silva, expressed her concerns in an open letter that all Australians had received the notification. According to Silva, Google and YouTube cannot guarantee that Australians will be getting relevant content, due to the proposed code.

The final decision is still yet to be made, hopefully with a positive outcome for both parties.

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