Australia clears law making Facebook and Google pay for news

Adelaide : Australia's parliament on Thursday passed a new law that ensures global technology giants pay for the news content shared on their platforms.

The law has been passed after a lot of discussions and opposition from the social media giants like Google and Facebook; prompting the latter to remove all news content from its platform recently.

“The code will ensure that news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public-interest journalism in Australia,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said in a joint statement. The rules will be reviewed after a year.

Google will now pay for news content that appears on its Showcase product and Facebook is expected to pay providers who appear on its News product, which is to be rolled out in Australia later this year.

The move comes after regulators observed that the social media giants are draining cash away from traditional news organisations while using their content for free.

The new law has been passed after an extensive analysis from Australia’s anti-trust regulator and almost three years of public consultation and could offer encouragement to countries such as Britain and Canada which are planning similar laws.