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 recognise
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."
Meta statement on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act: pic.twitter.com/kyFqKQw7xs
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) December 5, 2022
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. © Reuters