SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s centre-left government on Thursday will unveil new rules that could impose fines on Big Tech companies if they refuse to continue to pay Australian media firms for news content hosted on their platforms, local media reported.
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Under the proposed new rules, any internet company that refuses to negotiate with publishers or removes news from its platform, as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms did in Canada, would be forced to pay regardless, reports said.
Australia Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s office, Meta and Google did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
Australia in 2021 passed laws to make the U.S. tech giants, such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta, compensate media companies for the links that drive readers – and advertising revenue – to their platforms. The government has the power to set the fees if negotiations fail.
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Meta struck deals with several Australian media firms including News Corp and national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corp but has since said it will not renew those arrangements beyond 2024.
Meta, which also owns Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, has been scaling back its promotion of news and political content to drive traffic and says news links are now a fraction of users’ feeds. It has said it would discontinue a tab on Facebook promoting news in Australia.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Franklin Paul)
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