Australia’s treasurer advised tech giants to accept that their platforms must start paying for content, amid threats from Facebook and Google to limit services in the country if such a policy is enacted.
Canberra is finalizing legislation that would require Internet giants to obtain licenses to use content created by Australian news outlets. Both companies warned that they would retaliate against the revenue sharing scheme, with Google saying last week that it would remove its search engine from Australia, and Facebook declaring that it would remove news from the feeds of all Australian users.
On Sunday, treasurer Josh Frydenberg turned down ultimatums, signaling that the Australian government would not change course.
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“My opinion is that it is inevitable that digital giants pay for the original content,” he said, suggesting that Australia was leading what would soon become a world standard.
He also cautioned Facebook and Google for their hostility to the proposed regulation, describing their threats to withdraw from Australia as a “Great disservice.”
Google has been particularly unfriendly to the proposed legislation. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Silicon Valley giant has experimented with blacklisting some Australian news sites from its search results, apparently as a future strategy to avoid having to pay to host the content. The move shocked Australian media outlets, who accused Google of carrying out a blatant display of strength to prevent the revenue sharing code from becoming law.
A spokesman for Nine, the corporate owners of the Sydney Morning Herald, described the technology giant “to experiment” as a “Chilling illustration of its extraordinary market power”.
The bill was drafted last July, after an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The commission concluded that a large proportion of the country’s media depends on references from Google and Facebook, despite the fact that the media have little or no influence on powerful corporations.
Facebook argued that the bill is incompatible with its business model and asked for six months to negotiate directly with the media. Google also signaled that it is open to negotiations, but insisted that Australian law would be unfair because it does not take into account the costs that would be incurred by Google.
Last week, Washington asked Canberra to reconsider the bill, proposing a “voluntary” compensation policy instead.
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