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Sources briefed on the matter said lawmakers are considering
adding the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act to a
must-pass annual defense bill as way to help the struggling
local news industry. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone in a tweet
said the company would be forced to consider removing news if
the law was passed "rather than submit to government-mandated
negotiations that unfairly disregard any value we provide to
news outlets through increased traffic and subscriptions."
He added the proposal fails to recognize that publishers and
broadcasters put content on the platform because "it benefits
their bottom line - not the other way around."
The News Media Alliance, a trade group representing newspaper
publishers, is urging Congress to add the bill to the defense
bill, arguing that "local papers cannot afford to endure several
more years of Big Tech’s use and abuse, and time to take action
is dwindling. If Congress does not act soon, we risk allowing
social media to become America’s de facto local newspaper."
More than two dozen groups including the American Civil
Liberties Union, Public Knowledge and the Computer &
Communications Industry Association on Monday urged Congress not
to approve the local news bill saying it would "create an
ill-advised antitrust exemption for publishers and broadcasters"
and argued the bill does not require "funds gained through
negotiation or arbitration will even be paid to journalists."
A similar Australian law, which took effect in March 2021 after
talks with the big tech firms led to a brief shutdown of
Facebook news feeds in the country, has largely worked, a
government report said.
Since the News Media Bargaining Code took effect, various tech
firms including Meta and Alphabet have signed more than 30 deals
with media outlets, compensating them for content that generated
clicks and advertising dollars, the report added.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Reporting by
Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and
Matthew Lewis)
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