The government will give Australia’s competition watchdog more power to keep the likes of Google and Meta accountable as part of the News Media Bargaining Code which redistributes wealth from big tech companies into local news outlets in an effort to address an apparent power imbalance in the media industry. On Monday, the Commonwealth said… Read more »
When the News Media Bargaining Code was introduced by the federal government last year, forcing Facebook and Google to pay media companies for news, it was hailed as a game changer for the industry. Twelve months on, the game has changed, but tech giants Google and Facebook have created a more skewed playing field for… Read more »
Facebook’s hostage standoff with Australian government and media will end in the next few days after the company struck a deal with the Morrison government over its controversial News Media Bargaining Code. Intense negotiations with the government in the wake of Facebook blocking hundreds of media sites on its platform last Thursday, saw the warring… Read more »
In case you haven’t heard, Australia is proposing a new law that will force Facebook and Google to pay news orgs for linking to their content. In response, Facebook has stopped allowing the sharing of links to Australian news sites. As one would imagine, the response has been shock and horror at the power and… Read more »
Information is everywhere, right? Well, here in Australia, we now have one less source of news information at our fingertips. Yesterday, Facebook banned Australian users from posting news links, and sharing or viewing Australian and international news content. This will have a far-reaching impact on many organisations and groups. For the public – people of… Read more »
Facebook decided today that it became necessary to destroy the town to save it. Australians woke to news – but not on Facebook – that the trillion-dollar social media giant had banned the posting and sharing of news stories in their country. And it was worse than that when the algorithm the company deployed to… Read more »
Executives from Google and Facebook recently told a Senate committee they are prepared to take drastic action if Australia’s news media bargaining code, which would force the internet giants to pay news publishers for linking to their sites, comes into force. Google would have “no real choice” but to cut Australian users off entirely from… Read more »
If you’re reading this story, then you probably didn’t see it on Facebook. The social media giant announced overnight that it would ban Australian news media from its site, following through on a threat in response to the Australian government’s plans to force Google and Facebook to pay media companies for news featured on the… Read more »
Over the past few weeks, Google and Facebook have engaged in desperate attempts to avoid regulation under the Australian government’s proposed mandatory news media bargaining code. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg even appealed to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher personally last week, hoping to shift the government’s hard stance. Both platforms’ strategies… Read more »
The Australian government’s push to make Google pay news organisations for linking to their content has seen the search giant threaten to pull out of Australia. Google Australia’s managing director Mel Silva said if the government’s proposal goes ahead, “we would have no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia”. Prime… Read more »
Google Australia’s managing director, Mel Silva, has told a Senate hearing into plans to force the global tech giant, as well as Facebook, to pay media companies for news, that it will turn off Google searches in Australia if the government passes the laws. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg tabled what’s known as the news media bargaining… Read more »
The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has raised concerns that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it. His concerns are valid. However, they could be addressed through minor changes to the proposed code. How could the code break the web?… Read more »
US tech pioneer Vint Cerf, the man dubbed “father of the internet” for his work co-designing TCP/IP protocols, has backed his employer, Google, in its fight against the Australian government’s plans to make tech giants Google and Facebook pay media companies for using their content. Cerf, who has worked for Google as a vice president and… Read more »
Plans by the Morrison government to make Google and Facebook pay local media companies for news content appear to have stirred a sleeping giant, with the global search engine publishing an open letter to Australians warning that their search data, and the company’s free services are at risk as a result. Competition regulator the Australian… Read more »
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