Australia orders Google, FB to pay news media

CANBERRA: Australia’s government has ordered Facebook and Alphabet’s Google to share revenue generated from news articles, adding to growing global regulatory and political pushback against the digital giants.

The two companies will have to negotiate with traditional media on remuneration in good faith, treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Friday. If no agreement is reached, there will be a binding arbitration process and penalties of up to $10 million or 10% of local revenue.

“This is not about protecting Australian news media businesses from competition... What we have sought to do is create a level playing field,” Frydenberg said “

The move aims to correct what the government says is a power imbalance between two of the world’s most profitable companies and a local media industry that’s bleeding jobs as it loses advertising revenue to digital platforms.

Google said it was “deeply disappointed” by the government’s “heavy-handed intervention” that threatened Australia’s digital economy. Facebook said it was reviewing the draft code “to understand the impact it will have on the industry, our services and our investment in the news ecosystem in Australia.”

The draft code, which is open to consultation until August 28 before being legislated later this year, will initially only apply to Google and Facebook but could be extended to other digital companies in the future.