[LINK] Forcing Google and Facebook to pay publishers

[jwhit at internode.on.net]

Do Microsoft, Yahoo, the various TV stations, other news conglomerates
pay? This is going to get very messy.
Jan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Loosley" 
To:"link" 
Cc:
Sent:Mon, 04 May 2020 15:36:45 +1000
Subject:[LINK] Forcing Google and Facebook to pay publishers

 The ACCC is facing a devilishly complex task in forcing Google and
Facebook to pay publishers

 By Stephen Brook May 4, 2020 
 https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/the-accc-is-facing-a-devilishly-complex-task-in-forcing-google-and-facebook-to-pay-publishers-20200503-p54pdy.html

 The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's new code of
conduct designed to bring fairness to the digital advertising
marketplace will be world-first.

 But will it be world-class?

 The fight between media companies such as News Corporation and Nine
(owner of this newspaper) and Google and Facebook, pits print against
digital, regulation against the open internet, market power against
political influence, Canberra against California, Walkley Award
winning investigations against cat videos.

 Our online advertising market is worth about $9 billion a year, and
for every $100 spent by advertisers online, excluding classifieds, $47
goes to Google, $24 to Facebook and $29 elsewhere.

 But given the intricacies of social media ecosystems, the opacity of
digital ad markets, the platform and publishers’ co-dependent but
mutually antagonistic embrace, the fact that social media and search
engines operate completely different revenue models, attempting to
find a way forward will not be easy.

 Technically, the purpose of the ACCC code is to correct the
"significant imbalance" between the bargaining power of digital
platforms and the news media. In internet searches and social media,
Google and Facebook are so dominant they are the gateways to the
internet, "unavoidable trading partners" for those seeking to do
business on the web.

 In declaring this the ACCC agrees with the publishers to an extent
that has puzzled the web giants. As did the sudden intervention of the
government, stung by the closure of local and regional newspapers
thanks to the coronavirus advertising collapse. It dumped the
voluntary negotiations and demanded a mandatory code. The platforms
were blindsided.

 The ACCC says there is considerable vital and urgent work to be done.
It has to formulate a way to value news content. Good luck. The
internet is very good at ranking readership of stories, but if my Big
Brother exclusive gets more clicks than your political investigation,
it is more valuable, right? And you thought putting a price on carbon
was hard.

 News Corp is alive to the risks if the publishers don’t adopt a
uniform negotiating position and, say, Facebook closes a deal with
Guardian Australia, but not News Corp. It wants a provision that bans
data collection until all major news publishers have signed up.

 The task of designing a mandatory code, with enforcement, penalty and
appeal provisions will be very difficult.

 Even more difficult: enforcing it.

 Litigation at some point appears certain.

 Some publishers advocate a licence system, where a designated body
collects fees and distributes them to members. But are we ready for a
media version of the Australian Wheat Board?

 Web giants would prefer a pay-per-click system, used in digital
advertising. But publishers would shout blue murder, given platforms
use "snippets", preview panes to display content, so readers get the
story without leaving the site.

 The news industry must fight hard to avoid the experience of
musicians, which get a pittance from the platforms It took the star
power of Taylor Swift to win a victory over Apple, which backed down
after announcing it would not pay musicians during free the
introductory launch of its streaming service.

 When Spain forced Google to pay a licence fee for news content, the
company shut its local Google News operation down. France is
attempting something similar right now.

 Let’s be clear. All those who consume the news must pay for it,
whether they be digital web giants, or humble newspaper readers.

 But the ACCC must ensure its reforms are not just for the big
publishers like News and Nine, but also for the 122-year-old Barrier
Daily Truth, which stopped publishing two months ago.

 It is clear the internet killed print classified revenues just as
video killed the radio star. But did those dollars all flow to
Facebook and Google or to platforms like Domain and Carsales?

 We wish the ACCC luck, but it will be difficult to put the genie back
in the bottle.

 --

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