‘PAY-FOR-NEWS’ ROW HEATS UP IN OZ WITH GOOGLE’S POP-UP DRIVE

SYDNEY: US tech giant Google stepped up its public relations campaign against Australian regulation on Friday, presenting all search users Down Under with a pop-up “proposal” to water down planned rules.

Australians searching for any term were presented with a pop-up setting out the company’s opposition to proposed legislation that would force them to pay news companies for content. Google and Facebook have vehemently opposed the proposed rules, which are designed to rebalance the relationship between long-struggling news companies and tech giants that dominate the online advertising market.

UN chief ‘worried’ about power of social media

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said he is “worried” about the power of social media companies and called for creating a global mechanism to regulate them.

Guterres said he does not think “we can live in a world where too much power is given to a reduced number of companies”. “The question is... should we create a mechanism in which there is a regulatory framework with rules that allow for that to be done in line with law?” he argued.