Australian Parliament passes the News Media Bargaining Code

By Emmanuel Legrand

Australia's Parliament has passed a law that will establish the News Media Bargaining Code requiring online platforms to remunerate news publishers for the use of news content.

The legislation was challenged by Google and Facebook, with the latter taking the unprecedented step to shut down access to news content in Australia (the restriction have now been removed). Meanwhile Google has started making licensing deals with local news publishers.

"The code will ensure news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public interest journalism," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said in a joint statement.

A bargaining position

Tech companies managed to get some concessions from the Australian government, in particular a longer delay before the Code comes in full force. 

RodSims, Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), whose report in 2020 led to the legislation, said on ABC radio that previously “media companies couldn’t do commercial deals with Facebook or Google,” because the tech companies had the option to use whichever source of news they wanted.

“The purpose of the code is to give them the potential for arbitration, which helps their bargaining position, and therefore helps them reach fair commercial deals,” he said.