Facebook and Australia do a deal - The Social Network™ will restore news down under and even start paying for it
- Reference: 1614062734
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/02/23/facebook_and_australia_do_a_deal/
- Source link:
The House That Zuck Built [1]banned news links last week after talks broke down over the News Media Bargaining Code that Australia’s government [2]introduced to force Facebook and Google to pay local news publishers to link to their content.
[3]
Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg today [4]announced that code has been amended and as a result Facebook will restore news.
The amendments retain the spirit of the code but change some aspects of its operations.
[5]
The biggest change is to the code’s arbitration model, which gives a digital platform and media company two months to come to a deal. Only after those talks and mediation have failed will the “final offer arbitration” scheme come into play. That scheme sees the two negotiating parties each make an offer, followed by mediation and, if agreement cannot be reached, a mediator having the final say.
Facebook and Google both felt the model had the potential for media companies to make sky-high claims, dig in, then hope the mediator liked their thinking.
Other changes to the code mean a digital platform can’t be included if it “has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through reaching commercial agreements with news media businesses.” If a digital outfit is named, it will be warned in advance.
Google has already made such contributions. Facebook is reportedly close to doing likewise.
Facebook today announced it will restore Australian news media to its pages.
Treasurer [6]@JoshFrydenberg and I look forward to the News Media Bargaining Code passing through the Parliament this week. [7]pic.twitter.com/15sLZYY9Vv — Paul Fletcher (@PaulFletcherMP) [8]February 23, 2021
Frydenberg said the changes improve the code and will make it easier for smaller publishers to score themselves some sweet, sweet, Facebucks.
However, Facebook is yet to announce any deals.
A win for Australia and maybe the world
While Australia has altered its code, it retains its teeth. And those teeth have now seen Australia achieve what no other nation has achieved: forcing Google and Facebook to send money to news publishers on terms other than those the web giants set themselves.
Australia has also forced both web giants to acknowledge that their products derive value from the work of news-gathering organisations.
It remains to be seen, however, if Australia’s publishers spend their new revenue streams on the kind of public interest journalism the nation’s government wants funded. The code does not oblige local publishers to devote the money to anything in particular.
So all the bluster and heated debate about the code may prove a point without bringing about the change it was designed to create.
Ironically, Facebook’s decision came on the same day that a government MP who is currently suspended from Facebook for sharing misinformation about COVID-19 resigned from the ruling Liberal party. The MP wants to keep sharing his take on the coronavirus, and thinks he cannot do so as a member of the government.
[9]
The resignation leaves the government with a workable but uncomfortable one-seat majority and shows that Facebook well and truly retains the ability to place Australia in an uncomfortable position. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/facebook_australian_news/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/09/final_australian_news_bargaining_code/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YDTgVgeHQnmFgcsoIwfKnAAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://joshfrydenberg.com.au/latest-news/additional-amendments-to-news-media-and-digital-platforms-mandatory-bargaining-code/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YDTgVgeHQnmFgcsoIwfKnAAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://twitter.com/JoshFrydenberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[7] https://t.co/15sLZYY9Vv
[8] https://twitter.com/PaulFletcherMP/status/1364087506967298050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YDTgVgeHQnmFgcsoIwfKnAAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It remains to be seen, however, if Australia’s publishers spend their new revenue streams on the kind of public interest journalism the nation’s government wants funded. *coughABCcough*
Quite.
"without bringing about the change it was designed to create"
It depends on who designed it. The suspicion is that it may have succeeded depending on how free FB are to choose and what choices they make.
When two arseholes fight do you enjoy it or ignore it? I can't decide what to feel.
Raising the dead
> While Australia has altered its code, it retains its teeth
Yes. it keeps its teeth in a jar by the bed.
Having read the [1]Axios version of events, it turns out that Facebook has demonstrated to the Australian news media just who holds the cards. It isn't them. It is also notable that FB's announce says it will choose which news sources to work with.
The basic premise behind this whole mess is the old-fashioned, dead but still moving, news media is making a last-gasp effort to get some money for old rope. It looks as if they didn't realise that their position is not one of power.
[1] https://www.axios.com/facebook-australia-news-content-deal-c3f250fd-ec98-4968-836e-499130325afe.html
Re: Raising the dead
Ahkeep Myteefina Jahbesidabed, the great Pakistani cricketer.
It doesn't help their cause if all you ever hear on the ABC, be it TV or radio, is that you should follow them on either of the anti-social networks. Their pain of being blocked for a day from FB should've been transformed into an insight but it wasn't. I'd much rather listen to them with none of that diversion, fewer jingles, and fewer stings. Some content would be nice for a change.
No platforming by Social media
So social media is now getting a taste for no platforming when it doesn’t like stuff.
It’s like a baby throwing it’s toys out the Pram.
Will be interesting to see where the EU takes this next. The EU can’t be seen to lose so Facebook etc better start their responses with carrots.
I’m glad Australia got what they wanted but looks like some serious weasel strings attached I.e investing in media to dodge the charges.
Knowing the current Lib government
You can bet the farm that Facebook managed to convince them of a deal while simultaneously shafting them over a barrel.
only the start
This could be the IT equivalent of the oil price shock in the 1970's. That started very gently in about 1970 with one Col Gaddaffi demanding a 30 cent per barrel increase in the Libyan take (from a total oil price of around 2-3 $) , but as each producer country demanded more from the international oil companies (mainly US) , the next country was encouraged to push their terms higher. By 1973 with the oil price around $20 per barrel, the original demands which were shocking to the oil companies at the time now seemed ridiculously timid. The parallels are unpopular foreign companies making vast profits which don't seem to benefit the nations where they operate, and on the other hand governments as always desperate for revenue to fund the state budgets. Facebook , Google et al are where the money is, and governments will be coming for it once they have worked out how. When it turns out that a small charge on news snippets doesn't make the sky fall in or the internet collapse, how about a modest tax on ad revenue or transactions ? And then a slightly less modest tax and so on.
no matter
traditional news publishing business is dead anyway, with facebook and google scraps they'll just twitching a little longer, pay for a few golden parachutes. Certainly not for those in the boiler room.
Ugh
I really, really hate Facebook but you have to think about where this money is going, and for what. I highly doubt that any small news sites independent publishers are going to see any cash, it's just a nice payday for Murdoch and co. And why exactly is this deal being made exclusively for news publishers? If it was a fair system not being pushed by cashed up media lobbyists surely all content creators from YouTubers to cat gif animators should get their $0.02?