Rights

Facebook said Wednesday it will restrict news content in Australia over a proposed law that would require tech giants to pay publishers for it. Facebook’s update will restrict Australian publishers from sharing or posting content on the platform’s pages and limit Australian users from viewing or sharing international publishers’ links and posts.

Source: Facebook to restrict news content in Australia in response to

The European Union may follow Australia’s lead and force Big Tech companies to pay publishers for snippets of news content that appear on their online platforms. The new measures, promoted by some MEPs, would inflict serious damage on companies like Google and Facebook, whose market power relies on selling advertising space alongside content they get for free.

Source: From Canberra to Brussels, Big Tech faces tough copyright rules

The News Corp media conglomerate said Wednesday it has reached a deal for Google to pay for news content of its newspapers shared on the search giant’s News Showcase. The three-year agreement with News Corp includes the development of a subscription platform, the sharing of ad revenue through Google’s ad technology services, and “meaningful investments” in video journalism by YouTube.

Source: Google to pay News Corp to distribute content in global deal

While Australia is a small market for the companies—its online advertising market was valued at only $7 billion in 2019, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau—the new law could have big repercussions if other countries follow suit. The European Union overhauled its copyright laws in 2019, though the changes seem more limited in scope and power. How well the Australian approach works could end up shaping the regulatory direction there.

Source: Google and Facebook’s Trouble Down Under Will Spread

While the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump tax cuts all gave more money to the rich, policy changes in other areas, especially intellectual property have done far more to redistribute income upward. In the past four decades, a wide array of changes—under both Democratic and Republican presidents—made patent and copyright protection both longer and stronger.

Source: Want to Reverse Inequality? Change Intellectual Property Rules.

Alphabet Inc’s Google has agreed to pay $76 million over three years to a group of 121 French news publishers to end a more than year-long copyright spat, documents seen by Reuters show. The move infuriated many other French outlets, which deemed it unfair and opaque.

Source: Exclusive: Google’s $76 million deal with French publishers leaves many outlets infuriated

Seven West Media has become the largest Australian news media business to strike a deal with Google to pay for journalism in a partnership announced Monday before the nation’s Parliament considers draft laws to force digital giants to pay for news.

Source: Major Australian media company strikes Google news pay deal

Google and Facebook were close to striking significant commercial deals to pay Australian media for news ahead of Australia creating world-first laws that would force the digital giants to finance journalism, a minister said Monday. Parliament is scheduled to consider the draft laws on Tuesday after a Senate committee last week recommended no changes to the proposed regulations that Google and Facebook have condemned as unworkable.

Source: Australia says Google, Facebook close to media ‘significant’ pay deals

High-ranking representatives of the European Commission’s DG Connect will brief EU lawmakers as part of an ‘in camera’ meeting on Friday (12 February), after a contingent of parliament members wrote to the EU executive to voice their concerns on guidance issued for the EU’s copyright directive.

Source: Commission and Parliament in ‘secret talks’ on EU copyright directive

Australia on Friday moved a step closer to introducing pioneering legislation that would force tech giants to pay for sharing news content, a move that could change how people worldwide experience the internet. Although the rules would only apply in Australia, regulators elsewhere are looking closely at whether the system works and can be applied in other countries.

Source: Why the world is watching Australia’s new big-tech rules