Australia's Challenge to Google, Facebook Draws Bipartisan Political Support

Australia’s plans to force Google and Facebook to compensate publishers for access to news content has received bipartisan support across the political aisle.

Reuters reports that Australia’s political opposition has announced plans to support proposed legislation that would force tech giants such as Google and Facebook to pay publishers and broadcasters for access to news content.

Breitbart News recently reported that Australia’s Parliament is set to debate forcing Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for their content after a Senate committee on Friday recommended no changes to drafts of laws that would force the tech giants to compensate publishers. The bill has been scrutinized by the Senate Economics Legislation Committee since it was introduced in Parliament in December.

The senators rejected arguments from Facebook and Google that the proposed “media bargaining code” was unworkable. But the committee further recognized that the legislation carried risks and should be reviewed after a year.

The report stated: “The committee accepts that there remains the possibility that not all risks have been taken into account, and that further refinement may be needed to the arbitration mechanism and other parts of the code so that they work in an optimum manner.”

Now, lawmakers from Australia’s center-left Labor party have endorsed the bill at a meeting in Canberra on Tuesday, according to sources who have remained anonymous as they were not authorized to speak to media on the matter and declined to be identified.

The bill needs support from the opposition as Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s ruling Liberal party does not have a majority in the country’s upper house. The bill could be voted on in parliament as soon as this week.

Australia’s Challenge to Google, Facebook Draws Bipartisan Political Support

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