Australia to Introduce Mandatory Code of Conduct for Tech Platforms to Pay Media Outlets for News Content

The Treasurer of Australia has ordered that country’s competition watchdog(ACCC- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) to create a code of conduct for Facebook and Google which would force the tech giants to pay Australian media companies for using their content. Last week we told you about France looking into something similar. A draft of the code of conduct is due to be finalized by the end of July.

The ACCC was working on the code as part of a series of recommendations from its 2019 digital platforms inquiry. The report from that inquiry found — in addition to privacy concerns— that in Australia, Google and Facebook were taking a large share of online advertising revenue, even though much of their content came from media organizations.

The report called for a voluntary code that would require the companies to negotiate with news media on how to pay for their content, and advise media companies of algorithm changes that might affect online content rankings. I really don’t see Google giving into that 2nd bit of that request.

Will Easton, Managing Director, Facebook Australia, and New Zealand said in a statement emailed to The Verge that the company was “disappointed” by the Australian government’s announcement.

A Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement to The Verge that the company had been working since February with more than 25 Australian publishers for input on a voluntary code of conduct under the ACCC’s timeline.

It is safe to assume the new rules will damage Facebook and Google’s bottom lines in a country where they collect significant revenue and pay little tax.