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On Tuesday, social media giant META Platforms Inc. said that it would be “forced to consider” news content removal from its platform if the United States Congress passed laws mandating technology companies to pay news publishers for their material.
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would give media outlets the right to bargain collectively with social media sites about the conditions under which their content is published.
Media businesses claim that the money made from news stories shared on Meta is enormous.
During the pandemic, local news in particular struggled while Meta generated significant profits.
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However, Meta insisted that it would prefer news content removal from its platforms than “submit to government-mandated negotiations that unfairly disregard the value we provide to news outlets.”
The value includes “increased traffic and subscriptions,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement via tweet.
Meta has previously taken similar positions in an identical scenario.
In 2021, it temporarily blocked news from its platform in Australia after the country enacted a law that would require digital companies to compensate publishers for utilising their news pieces.
After wide-ranging criticism, Meta immediately overturned its decision and struck deals with Australian publishers.
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Minnesota Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar, who sponsored the bill, said the law would merely permit news organisations to negotiate better costs for their news material collectively with “the biggest companies the world has ever known.”
“In one quarter, Google made $66 billion in ad revenue while newspapers and little radio stations folded left and right,” Klobuchar said.
“We’re just simply trying to get a fair price for content.”
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
