After refusing to renew contracts signed in the wake of 2021 legislation, Facebook is now on a collision course with Australian media and the country’s government. What though does its change of policy mean for not just the Australian media, but news companies across the globe?
Three years ago Australia was celebrated across the media world for introducing groundbreaking legislation, the News Media Bargaining Code, that forced social media platforms to compensate publishers for news content that was shared on their sites.
The Australian deal was followed by a similar initiative in Canada, the Online News Act, and discussions about possible similar arrangements in the EU and the USA.
Yet while Google has generally worked with governments and agreed compensation sums that have been distributed to publishers, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has sometimes played hardball.
In Canada, it has blocked all news sharing on its platforms. Its argument then is that there are no entities who deserve compensation.
Now it has changed tack in Australia, announcing that it will not be renewing the contracts it made with news publishers back in 2021. The main shift will see the company remove its news tab from Facebook, something it has already undertaken in many countries.
The company said
“While we’ll be deprecating Facebook News in these countries, this announcement does not impact the terms under our existing Facebook News agreements with publishers in Australia, France and Germany.”
“These deals have already expired in the US and the UK. Additionally, to ensure that we continue to invest in products and services that drive user engagement, we will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content in these countries and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future.”
So why did Meta make the Australian agreements in the first place?
The 2021 deals were a response to the News Media Bargaining Code that would have forced the digital platforms to negotiate with news publishers for the use of news content on the platforms.
By undertaking an agreement with the news publishers Meta was able to bypass that procedure.
Facebook, along with Google, signed dozens of deals with publishers in 2021 worth an estimated $200m seeking to avoid being “designated”
Many media observers assumed that the company would agree to a similar deal with Canadian publishers. Though this hasn’t been the case.
So what happens next?
The Australian government is not surprisingly very angry with the platform.
The Guardian reported
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, and assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, called news media companies on Friday following the announcement, advising them the government would be taking all of the steps available under the news media bargaining code.
“We’re not talking about some plucky little startup, we’re talking about one of the world’s largest and most profitable companies,” Jones said. “It has a responsibility to ensure that it pays for the content that … has been used on its platform, and frankly, that it’s making millions and millions of dollars out of it and so the government is adamant it will be backing the code we’ll be taking all of the actions that are available to us under the code.”
Even the PM, Anthony Albanese, weighed in telling reporters that the decision was “not the Australian way” and it is critical that media is able to function properly and be properly funded.
Meta suggests that the consumption of news has changed on the platform. In its release it argued; “We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content – they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests. As we previously shared in 2023, news makes up less than 3% of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed, and is a small part of the Facebook experience for the vast majority of people.”
News Corp Australia’s CEO, Michael Miller, disagrees and said Meta “is attempting to mislead Australians” by saying its decision is about the closure of the news tab when the vast majority of news on Facebook and Meta is consumed outside of that product.
News Corp is backing the Australian government with Miller adding
“Meta is using its immense market power to refuse to negotiate, and the government is right to explore every option for how the Media Bargaining Code’s powers can be used.”
Our view on the future of news on social platforms
2024 is set to be a momentous year of political change with elections held in many of the world’s largest and most influential democracies including the USA, UK, South Africa and India.
Social platforms are very much under the microscope as politicians of all stripes fear that they could be used to spread misinformation about candidates and their policies. The concern is amplified by the growing use of AI to create video, audio, and image content that many social media users will ultimately struggle to determine if it is genuine or fake.
At the same time, there are reports from Canada that smaller media companies have suffered from the Facebook news embargo, though it hasn’t impacted hugely on mainstream outlets.
As with the current legal challenges to ChatGPT headed by the New York Times, publishers need to work together and also seek support from governments.
This means putting pressure on Meta to agree to new contracts and if not resorting to legal challenges.
A vibrant news ecosystem is essential for any democracy to function properly. At a time when business models are challenged by changing media consumption habits and the impact of technology, social platforms really should be playing a role in helping to deliver sustainably news industries.
Photo by Julio Lopez
