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Facebook comes the raw pawn down under

by on25 June 2021


Set to test the world's toughest content law 

Australia's competition watchdog is looking into a claim that Facebook refused a publisher's request to negotiate a licensing deal and it appears that the social networker is heading for a showdown over the countries tough online content law.

The Conversation, which publishes current affairs commentary by academics, said it asked Facebook to begin talks as required under new Australian legislation that requires the social media firm and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google to negotiate content-supply deals with media outlets.

Facebook declined without giving a reason, The Conversation said, even though the publisher was among the first in Australia to secure a similar deal with Google in the lead-up to the law in 2020.

The knockback could present the first test of a controversial mechanism unique to Australia's effort to claw back advertising dollars from Google and Facebook: if they refuse to negotiate licence fees with publishers, a government-appointed arbitrator may step in.

Facebook's head of news partnerships for Australia, Andrew Hunter, said the company was "focused on concluding commercial deals with a range of Australian publishers".

Hunter said Facebook was planning a separate initiative "to support regional, rural and digital Australian newsrooms and public-interest journalism in the coming months", without giving details.

Rod Sims, the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said in an interview that he could not see if Google had done a deal with the publishers why Facebook was having such difficulty.

Ynder the law, the decision to designate a Big Tech firm for intervention was made by the treasurer, which is advised by the ACCC, noted Sims, but "an absolute 'no' for an organisation that should be getting a deal is something we'll look into".

Governments around the world are introducing laws to make the tech giants compensate media companies for the links that drive readers - and advertising revenue - to their platforms. But Australia is the only country where the government may set the fees if negotiations fail, a factor that drove Facebook to block newsfeeds in the country just before it was passed. read more

 Since the law took effect, a handful of the country's biggest media players, from News to the Australian Broadcasting Corp, have struck deals with the tech giants.

But some small and independent publishers whose content helps draw four-fifths of Australia's 25 million population to the Facebook site said the law had created a two-tier industry where rival titles that were owned by large parent companies secured deals while others missed out.

Nelson Yap, publisher of Australian Property Journal, which is on a government register of media businesses covered by the law, said he was in early discussions with Google but had emailed Facebook twice with no response.

Last modified on 25 June 2021
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