NEW ZEALAND LAW ON TECH GIANTS

Description

Copyright infringement is not intended

Context: New Zealand is planning to bring in a law mandating Big Tech firms, such as Alphabet Inc (which owns Google) and Meta Platforms Inc (Facebook), to pay media firms for the local news content that appears on their feed. The law would be on the lines of similar rules in Australia and Canada.

Details:

Need for law

Facebookand Google are platforms from where a very large number of readers, globally, consume their news.
The tech firms influence what sort of news, and from what publications, a user gets to see on her feed.
The platforms gain in terms of clicks, engagement and revenue from the content produced by news media organisations.
This, when the media firms themselves, especially if they are small newspapers, are struggling financially, with more and more advertising going online.
Over the years and in different corners of the world, there have been calls for Big Tech “fairly compensating” news media firms.
The law would act as an incentive for digital platforms to reach deals with local news outlets.

Australia’s landmark law

In 2021, Australia brought in a landmark law to make tech giants pay for news content, amid stiff opposition from Google and Facebook.
The legislation set a precedent in regulating social media across geographies, and its progress was watched the world over.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Act 2021 (the code) is a mandatory code of conduct which governs commercial relationships between Australian news businesses and ‘designated’ digital platforms who benefit from a significant bargaining power imbalance.
The ACCC considers that addressing this imbalance is necessary to support the sustainability of the Australian news media sector, which is essential to a well-functioning democracy.
Following the introduction of the code, Google and Facebook (now Meta) have reached voluntary commercial agreements with a significant number of news media organisations
Over 30 commercial agreements between digital platforms (Google and Meta) and a cross section of Australian news businesses have been struck, agreements that were highly unlikely to have been made without the Code.