Australia last month became the first
government to require Facebook and Google to pay for news content. The government gave the companies three months to negotiate terms.
Now an open letter from
Google clearly aims to make Australian content creators and artists aware of a proposed new law, known as the News Media Bargaining Code, that could have a
significant and negative impact on the continent.
The letter highlights concerns that traditional news and its publishers are prioritized over smaller
creators of content and the platforms where they find an audience, even when that audience is worldwide.
“Under this law, Google has to tell news media businesses ‘how they can
gain access’ to data about your use of our products,” wrote Mel Silva, managing director, on behalf of Google Australia. “There’s no way of knowing if any data handed over
would be protected, or how it might be used by news media businesses.”
could allow for the sharing of user data.
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In July, Reuters reported that if Google and other
platforms could not agree with the Australian media businesses on pricing after three months, the government would appoint arbitrators, per the proposal.
Google
stated that the company is particularly concerned that it provides unfair advantages to large news businesses over anyone else online, including the very creators that make and create the content
available on YouTube.
Silva wrote in a post that the company believes in the importance of news to society and that it has been partnering closely with Australian news media
businesses, already paying them millions of dollars and sending them billions of free clicks annually.
“We’ve offered to pay more to license content,” she wrote. “But rather than
encouraging these types of partnerships, the law is set up to give special treatment to big media companies and to encourage them to make enormous and
unreasonable demands that would put our free services at risk.”
Under the new laws:
- YouTube may be obligated to give large news publishers confidential
information about its systems they could use to try to appear higher in rankings on YouTube, disadvantaging all other creators. This would mean creators could receive fewer views and earn
less.
- It will create an uneven playing field when it comes to who makes money on YouTube. Through the YouTube Partner Program, YouTube already shares revenue with
partners who monetize on YouTube, including news publishers. Through this law, big news businesses can demand large amounts of money above and beyond what they earn on the platform, leaving fewer
funds to invest for creators and in the programs to help develop a worldwide audience.
- Under this law, big news businesses can seek access to data about viewers’ use its
products. YouTube believes user data protection is paramount and the company should not be required to hand over this data.
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