Facebook has publicly threatened to remove news from its platform in the United States if the US Congress forces big tech companies to pay newspaper and radio and TV companies for the content they publish.
The warning echoes Facebook’s decision to ban news from its website in Australia last year in an attempt to challenge adopted legislation that sought to change the terms of the business relationship between content companies and platforms.
Facebook, however, backtracked quickly on the occasion.
The warning from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, released this Monday (5), comes after a bill that had been debated for a long time to expand the power of news companies was attached to the National Defense Budget Law —which significantly increases your chances of being approved.
“If Congress passes a reckless journalism bill as part of national security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news entirely from our platform rather than submitting to government-mandated negotiations,” said Andy Stone, port -voice of the Goal.
“No company should be forced to pay for content that its users don’t want to see and that isn’t a significant source of revenue,” he added.
Meta has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on journalism in recent years, and has struck dozens of deals with news outlets across the globe. But it has long resisted regulatory action to make such payments mandatory.
As efforts to get big tech to pay for news have expanded beyond Australia, Meta has been signaling to news companies in private communications that it intends to change its approach in the coming years, and is unlikely to renew. existing licensing agreements when they expire.
The US bill, known as the Preservation and Competition in Journalism Act, is modeled on the Australian regime and would require platforms like Facebook and Google to reach licensing agreements with journalistic groups or participate in an arbitration process to decide fair compensation. .
Unlike in Australia, proponents of the US bill say it is aimed primarily at supporting smaller news providers and local organizations rather than big companies like Dow Jones or The New York Times.
The News Media Alliance (NMA), an umbrella organization of US media companies, said Facebook’s threat was “undemocratic and inappropriate”.
“These threats were attempted before the Australian government passed a similar bill to compensate news companies, they were unsuccessful and ultimately the news companies were paid,” the NMA said in a statement.
“The Australian law resulted in numerous jobs for local journalists and $140 million for news outlets, which would translate into billions in the United States.”
Translated by Paulo Migliacci
I have over 10 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked for several different news organizations, including a large news website like News Bulletin 247. I am an expert in the field of economics and have written several books on the subject. I am a highly skilled writer and editor, and have a strong knowledge of social media. I am a highly respected member of the news industry, and my work has been featured in many major publications.
