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The Australian treasurer has advised tech giants to accept that their platforms will have to start paying for content, amid threats from Facebook and Google to limit services in the country if such a policy is adopted.
Canberra is in the process of finalizing legislation that would require internet giants to obtain licenses to use content created by Australian news organizations. The two companies have warned that they will take retaliatory action on the revenue sharing system, with Google announcing last week that it would be removing its search engine from Australia and Facebook saying it would remove information from the feeds of all Australian users.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg pushed back on the ultimatums on Sunday, signaling that the Australian government would not change course.
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“In my opinion, it is inevitable that the digital giants pay for original content”, he said, suggesting that Australia was leading the way in what would soon become a global standard.
He also berated Facebook and Google for their hostility to the proposed settlement, describing their threats to withdraw from Australia as a “Big bad service.”
Google has been particularly unresponsive to the proposed legislation. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Silicon Valley giant had experimented with blacklisting certain Australian news sites from its search results, apparently as a future strategy to avoid having to pay for hosting the content. The move shocked Australian media, which accused Google of conducting a blatant show of force to prevent the revenue sharing code from becoming law.
A spokesperson for Nine, the company that owns the Sydney Morning Herald, described the tech giant. “experience” have a “Frightening illustration of their extraordinary market power.”
The bill was drafted last July following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The commission concluded that much of the country’s media depended on credentials from Google and Facebook, despite news outlets having little or no influence over large corporations.
Facebook argued that the bill was incompatible with its business model and asked for six months to negotiate directly with news outlets. Google has also signaled that it is open to discussions, but insisted that Australian law would be unfair because it does not take into account the costs that would be incurred by Google.
Washington last week urged Canberra to reconsider the bill, proposing a “voluntary” remuneration policy in its place.
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