"The agreement with Facebook is a milestone in shaping the framework for journalism and will have a significant and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses," News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said Tuesday.
The deal would give Facebook's 17 million users in the country "access to premium news articles and breaking news in video form across News Corp's network of newsrooms from all cities and rural areas," according to Andrew Hunter, Facebook's head of news partnerships in Australia. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's company and the social media giant did not disclose further details of the agreement.
In Australia, a new law now requires Internet platforms to pay for media content that brings users and advertising revenue to their platforms.
Facebook in particular had sharply criticized the regulations. The dispute had escalated when the world's largest Internet network had blocked all media links as well as several authority and disaster pages (Werbewoche.ch reported).
Australia is the first country to pass a law of this kind. Around the globe, governments have been looking for ways to curb the influence of the US technology giants for years. (SDA)
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The loss of revenue for Facebook could amount to 10.5 million Australian dollars - about 6.8 million euros - per year, broadcaster ABC reported.
Facebook had blocked news pages on its platform for Australian users on Thursday (Werbewoche.ch reported). Since then, Facebook users can no longer share national or international journalistic content. In doing so, the company is opposing a bill proposed by the Australian government that would in future force Google and Facebook to pay local media companies if they distribute their content. In this way, Australia wants to ensure that advertising revenues are distributed more fairly.
Birmingham called the blocking of the news sites "inappropriate" and accused Facebook of trying to influence "democratic systems." "We will not tolerate this." He added that the government would not deviate from its proposed legislation.
Germany is also facing a reform of copyright law. This involves the implementation of an EU directive that was adopted in the summer of 2019 and is to be implemented by June. The German government emphasizes that the draft law provides for a fair balance of interests that benefits creators, rights exploiters and users alike. But there is also resistance. However, the draft is less radical and the debate more moderate than in Australia. (SDA)