In the past decade, hundreds of newspapers have largely disappeared due to the disruption of Big Tech’s advertising market. Republicans and Democrats can’t agree much when it comes to technological reform, be it content moderation or creation of acquisitions, but they seem to agree that local journalism needs to be saved.
On Friday, a hearing from the House Judiciary subcommittee focused on the way Google and Facebook distribute news, and a new bill introduced earlier this week has already found Republican support. It is one of the biggest legislative threats to technology that comes from the antitrust debate of years, and much of its political strength comes from the precarious state of local journalism.
“The crisis in American journalism has become a real crisis in our democracy and civic life,” said Cicilline in his opening speech on Friday.
Ciciline’s bill, the “Journalism Preservation and Competition Act of 2021,” would allow news organizations to collectively negotiate with platforms like Facebook and Google the terms on which their content is distributed online. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who heads the Senate antitrust panel, also sponsored legislation in the Senate and Republicans, such as Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) and Congressman Ken Buck (R-CO), already they did it signed in support of the bill as well.
“This project is a step in the right direction to dethrone digital kings,” Buck said in his opening speech on Friday. “It is not a subsidy for channels, but a leveling of the playing field in favor of democracy and freedom of expression.”
But while there was growing bipartisan support for the Capitol measure on Friday, the real drama took place beyond the dais.
WHAT IT MEANS
There is more pressure now than ever for Congress to act. In January, Google threatened to remove its search engine from Australia, responding to a new law that would force the technology giant to pay news publishers for its content. That law passed in February, and Google quickly backed down to strike a deal with News Corp. and other publishers.
While all this was going on, Microsoft released a statement in support of Australia’s efforts to protect publishers. “One thing is for sure: while other technology companies may sometimes threaten to leave Australia, Microsoft will never make such a threat,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement last month.
Smith was brought in as a witness at Friday’s hearing, announcing his support for Cicilline’s media negotiation project. Moments before the hearing began, Google made its own strong statement against Microsoft, suggesting that the company was “making selfish claims” that could “break the functioning of the open web in an effort to undermine a rival”.
Google has good reason to fear this bill, especially in light of its bluff in Australia. Cicilline’s bill has bipartisan support and is only the subcommittee’s first attempt at Big Tech before they grapple with more comprehensive reforms.
THE HIGHLIGHT
Glenn Greenwald, ex Intercept The editor who became a writer for Substack’s newsletter also testified at Friday’s hearing. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) focused his line of questioning on Greenwald, asking if he feared that a bill like the one proposed would only cement the power of big media companies, leaving local journalism in the dust.
“My concern is that the discussion in the legislation seems to be based on the premise that the only or the main problem, for both local and national journalism, is that Google and Facebook are sucking up advertising revenue and that you simply corrects this problem. media failure problem will be fixed as well, ”said Greenwald. “I think that until the problem that this subcommittee identified in its report is addressed head on, which is breaking the monopoly powers of this industry, none of these problems will really be resolved.”
Cicilline returned to Greenwald, saying that her bill is only a first step. “The bill that, at least Mr. Buck and I are proposing … provides a temporary solution for a period of 48 months. And, in fact, anything these big media companies negotiated would be available for the smallest newspaper in any city in America. ”
He continued: “We are not going to do this either. Let’s do both. “
WHAT DID YOU NOT ASK?
How Politicians Cristiano Lima noted on Twitter that the committee asked almost no questions about Facebook! Facebook had its own feud with Australia last month, removing the ability for some users and publishers to share news content in the country. In February, the Australian government agreed to several changes that would allow users to continue publishing news, so a full conversation about these concessions and how they could affect American users would have been beneficial.
The written testimony of Microsoft President Brad Smith before the House Judiciary mentions Google 7⃣5⃣ times‼ ️
In contrast, it mentions Facebook 3⃣ times
– Cristiano Lima (@viaCristiano) March 12, 2021
WHAT IS THE NEXT?
The House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee has yet another hearing before it begins to present the legislation. Those bills are due to arrive this spring. Klobuchar also said CNN this week that the Senate competition committee will also begin conducting its own hearings on the technology domain, examining app store fees and news publishing. These hearings have not yet been scheduled.