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The
bill passed the committee by a vote of 15 to 7, according to a
congressional aide. It must now go to the Senate for their
approval. A similar bill is before the U.S. House of
Representatives.
The bill is aimed at giving news and broadcast organizations
more clout after years of criticism that big tech companies use
their content to attract traffic and ad revenue without fairly
compensating the publishers, many of which struggle financially.
The bill, led by Democrat Amy Klobuchar, attracted some
Republican support, with Senators John Kennedy and Lindsey
Graham sponsoring it. Other Democrats, like Senator Alex
Padilla, expressed reservations about it.
The bill hit a speed bump earlier this month when Senator Ted
Cruz won backing for a plan to include provisions to address
what he considers the platforms stifling conservative voices.
On Thursday Klobuchar won support for an amendment that
specified that prices for use of content was the issue.
"The goal of the bill is to allow local news organizations to
get compensation when major titans, monopolies like Facebook and
Google, access their content," she said at a committee session
to vote on the bill.
Unlike other bills aimed at reining in big tech, some
progressive groups oppose this measure, including Public
Knowledge, on the grounds that it favors big broadcasters like
News Corp, Sinclair and Comcast/NBCU.
Also opposing the bill are two technology industry trade groups
that Facebook and Google belong to: the Computer &
Communications Industry Association and NetChoice.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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