‘Inevitable’ Google and Facebook will pay for Australian news, treasurer says | Google

Josh Frydenberg warned internet giants that it is “inevitable” that they will pay for news content. Threats to shut down key functions in Australia make them “a big bad service”.

In front of a door on Sunday, the treasurer said that the Morrison’s government aims to become the “world leader” in regulating social media and search companies, which he accused of changing target posts in opposition to the proposed bargaining code.

Google and Facebook They are both fighting against laws in front of parliament that would force them to enter into negotiations with news media companies for content payments, and with an arbitrator who will ultimately decide the amount of payment if an agreement is not reached.

On Friday, The couple escalated the conflict Threatening to remove the Google search engine from Australia and Facebook To remove news from Facebook feeds of all Australian users.

Threats follow The revelation that Google tried By hiding some Australian news sites from their search results, media outlets said there was “extraordinary power” in a movement.

Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne that the government was working with the Australian competition regulator for two years to “see digital giants pay for original content produced by our media businesses”.

Frydenberg accused the tech companies of “changing target posts” by first opposing the government’s final bid arbitration and now opposing paying for clicks on media content displayed in search results.

“If clicks on media content are a very small proportion of the total clicks on search,” he said, would be reflected in the payment set by the independent arbitrator.

Frydenberg said the government’s stance was backed by media companies and opinion polls, after a Dynata poll for the Australian Institute for Responsible Technology found that four out of five respondents found the removal of Australian results from news sources “offensive”.

“It seems like the digital giants did a great disservice to themselves last week when they effectively threatened the Australian people with withdrawal from Australia,” Frydenberg said.

The treasurer said the crossbenchers and Australian Greens spoke in support of the law, but accused the Worker of “taking the splinters standing on the fence”.

“In my opinion, it is inevitable for digital giants to pay for original content, and the choice for Australia is: We are the world leader… and is it first when it comes to implementing such code? Or we can follow others as they do. “

Facebook searched the code does not work as it isand asked digital platforms to be given six months to negotiate deals directly with news companies before being hit with the “big bar” of mandatory code.

Google said He might consider arbitration a “reasonable return” to secure investment in news, but Australia’s model is flawed because it takes into account only the costs of news companies, not Google’s costs, and encourages “ambit requests”.

Google on Friday signed a deal with a group of French broadcasters to pay for news through the News Showcase platform, which is not overseen by independent arbitration.