How countries are trying to make Google, Facebook pay for news content

Google entered into a copyright deal with six French newspapers and magazines recently while Australia's draft code on revenue sharing with news publishers now covers broadcasters.

France has also levied a tax on Internet giants, facing the possibility of US retaliation. ET discusses the supremacy that Google, Facebook, have in digitally distributing news material, which experts claim is unfair to news publishers, repots India Times.

Here's what has happened and is happening globally to correct this imbalance.

The problem

Google and Facebook have more than 80% of external traffic to various news outlets, according to Parse.ly, web analytics and content management tools for online publishers, but much of the money goes to internet portals, not content generators.

This means that media outlets are not the key beneficiaries of digital news consumption income.

For example, according to one study, around 40% of the clicks on Google's trending queries are for news. That's the content Google does not pay for.

What France has done

Earlier this month, Google revealed that it had made copyright agreements with six French newspapers and magazines, including Le Monde and Le Figaro.

France also declared that it would levy a 'digital tax' on Google, Facebook and Apple on their 2020 earnings. The tax applies to businesses with a global turnover of over EUR 750 million.

The copyright agreement followed the French competition watchdog issuing an interim order requesting Google to negotiate with media companies after the internet giant had removed their contents following an earlier order.

Meanwhile the French watchdog is continuing its investigation.

Similar transfers will most likely take place elsewhere in the EU. Earlier, Google responded to payment orders by shutting down its Google news site in Spain.

What Australia has done

Australian competition watchdog published a draft news media negotiating code in July asking Google and Facebook to pay for news content in the region.

The code also said that Internet companies would have to pay millions of dollars in penalties if they did not comply with the law.

Broadcasters have recently been added to the list of news publishers.

The United States and India

The home of Google, Facebook, is also engaged in this issue, with a proposed law authorising news publishers to participate in collective bargaining with tech companies to obtain payment for news material. Several antitrust moves that are currently making their way through US lawmakers could also have an effect on this.

In India, authorities have not yet moved to make Internet companies pay for local news content.
Reaction from Google, Facebook

Earlier, their argument was that they pass on enough users to news sites to compensate publishers. In face of criticism, there is now some moderation of stance, but responses are still patchy.

In February, there were reports of Google paying some publishers in some countries (not India). In April, Google said it is cutting fees for its ad manager service (used by publishers) for the next five months. In October, Google said it would pay some select, 'high-quality' news publishers to license their content for a service expected to be launched later this year.

German, Australian and Brazilian outlets were named. Google says more talks are on elsewhere.

Facebook had announced last year that it will pay a few US publishers to "encourage better quality content".

There's a long way to go before news publishers get a fair deal from internet platforms. Solutions must be clear and regulator mandated, not bits and pieces announcements by Google and Facebook. And Indian authorities, who have gone forward with digital tax, must step forward on this issue as well.