According to Meta’s head of policy communications, Andy Stone, “if Congress passes an ill-considered journalism bill as part of national security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news from our platform altogether.” The idea to make platforms pay for news content was first introduced in Australia. In 2021, The country’s lawmakers passed a bill to force social platforms like Facebook to pay for news content. At the time, Facebook removed Australian news content from its platform. The company later reached an agreement with some Australian publishers, like News Corp Australia.
Meta doesn’t want to pay for news content
Meta is one of many digital companies that should pay for news content. Google already had a similar problem in France and had to sign an agreement with French publishers to use their content. The Congress bill also aims to support US publishers, but tech companies wants to keep the money out of reach of news producers. News Media Alliance now represents newspaper publishers and believes the bill is necessary to stop newspapers from declining. They also called Meta’s threats “undemocratic and unbecoming.” On the other hand, Meta and 20 organizations are opposing the deal. They argue that news publishers share their content on Facebook and benefit from the platform’s exposure and user base. While both sides have their own judgments about the deal, Congress now has to decide the bill’s fate. The bill might allow news organizations and social platforms to negotiate over the costs and terms, but it will certainly upset social platforms. More digital companies like Twitter and Google are expected to join Meta in opposing the bill.
