Catching Up With The Battle Between Australia & Digital Platforms

Here’s all you need to know about what’s happening between Australian regulators and digital platforms like Google and Facebook.

To understand what is happening right now, we have to go back and start the story from the beginning.

The Code

The Australian government has been working toward the implementation of a News Media Bargaining Code for over two years. This is a “mandatory code of conduct” which the government wants to address the “bargaining power imbalances” between news media businesses and tech giants, specifically Google and Facebook.

Since people are using online search engines and social media more these days, advertisers put more money in these channels to attract more customers. However, this has affected news media businesses heavily while Google and Facebook raked millions in advertising revenue.

In order to fix this issue, the code proposes that digital platforms like Google and Facebook pay for using links and content from news publishers. On top of this, the bill also includes a clause for compulsory arbitration. What does that mean? It means that if a news publisher feels that the deal offered by Google or Facebook is not fair, then they could approach an arbitral panel in a bid to get a better deal.

The code also requires that digital platforms will “provide registered news business corporations with advance notification of planned changes to an algorithm or internal practice that will have a significant effect on covered news content.”

This code sounds like good news for news publishers as they would be able to generate revenue, but the digital platforms are not completely on board on this.

Google’s Response

Google has said, while it supports the idea that the financial future of publishers needs to be supported, the way the Australian government is trying to achieve this goal would affect the way Google search works. The firm also said that the code remains to be “unworkable”.

As we said before, the code also asks digital platforms to give advance notification to news publishers in case of any change in the algorithm. Google had said that even if they comply with this, it would delay important updates for its users and give special treatment to news publishers in a way that would disadvantage everyone else.

After making those statements, Google said that if the code became a law in Australia, it would stop making Google Search available in the country. Earlier, Facebook responded to the code becoming law by saying that the firm would remove Australians’ ability to post news content on its platforms. However, Australian PM Scott Morrison had said that the government “does not respond to threats”.

So, Where Are We Now?

The question that is coming to our minds is that, will Google Search be no longer available in Australia? We believe that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon because Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, was quoted by Bloomberg saying, that they are very close to some very significant commercial deals. He added that they have made great progress. This statement comes after Frydenberg had discussions with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai over the weekend.

The Australian Parliament will be considering the bill from this week and this gives an incentive to the digital platforms to agree compensation terms for news companies before the law is passed.

So, now all eyes are on the talks as everyone wants to see how much the digital platforms will be paying news publishers, and will they comply with everything mentioned in the code or stop their services in the country? Or if Australia succeeds in implementing this law, will other countries follow suit and do the same?

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