New law may force the tech giants to pay for stories
TECH giants could be required by law to pay UK news organisations for using their stories, the competition regulator has revealed.
Ministers last week launched a ‘tough’ new digital watchdog responsible for designing a code of conduct to rein in the power of platforms such as Google and Facebook.
The Digital Markets Unit (DMU), set up within the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), aims to address concerns that a small number of tech companies are dominating online advertising to the detriment of consumers and businesses.
Google and Facebook also exert huge influence on public opinion by filtering how people read and access news, sometimes to the detriment of quality paid-for journalism.
The Government will consult this year on the final design of the new regime and the powers the DMU will have, with the aim of bringing in legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.
CMA executives yesterday told a house of Lords committee that they were looking to follow the ‘general objectives’ of the Australian model. earlier this year, the Australian government passed a controversial world-first law aimed at making tech platforms pay for news content. The legisla
‘It needs to be enforceable’
tion – the News Media Bargaining Code – encourages tech giants and news organisations to negotiate payment deals between themselves. If negotiations fail, an independent arbitrator can set the price they pay domestic media, which is likely to benefit news groups.
Daniel Gordon, senior director of markets at the CMA, said the ‘Australian experience was definitely a good place to start’.
he told peers that, similar to Australia, the DMU’s code of conduct would need to be ‘statutory’, adding: ‘[It] needs to be enforceable, it needs to be in law.’
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has previously said the DMU could investigate Google’s algorithms, amid concerns they were disproportionately directing search inquiries to Left-leaning news organisations. Simeon Thornton, a director at the CMA, told the Lords Communications and Digital Committee that news organisations needed to have confidence that Google was not manipulating their algorithms for ‘nefarious commercial’ purposes.
The DMU would therefore have an important role as a ‘trusted intermediary’ in scrutinising the algorithms to make sure it ‘does what it says on the tin’, he said.
Last week, Mr Dowden told the Mail a ‘strong Press is one of the cornerstones of our democracy in the UK’ and that good journalism ‘doesn’t come for free’.