Beitrag Mi 24. Feb 2021, 07:17

Google has said the law could force it to disable its search

Bild
Penalties could be up to A$10m (£5m; $7m) per breach, or 10% of the company's local turnover.

The government says the code will initially focus on Google and Facebook, but could be expanded to other tech companies.

Why is Australia pushing this law?
The government has argued that tech giants should pay newsrooms a "fair" amount for their journalism.

In addition, it has argued that the financial support is needed for Australia's embattled news industry because a strong media is vital to democracy.

Media companies, including News Corp Australia, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, have lobbied hard for the government to force tech firms to the negotiating table amid a long-term decline in advertising revenue.

Facebook, however, argues "the value exchange between Facebook and publishers runs in favour of the publishers", according to its manager for Australia and New Zealand, William Easton, and generates hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for the media.

"Publishers willingly choose to post news on Facebook, as it allows them to sell more subscriptions, grow their audiences and increase advertising revenue," he adds.

But Australia's competition watchdog - cited by the AFP news agency - says that for every $100 spent on online advertising, Google captures $53, Facebook takes $28 and the rest is shared among others, taking revenue away from media outlets. pg

Meanwhile, Google's revenues have increased markedly in the same period, amounting to more than $160bn (£117bn) globally in 2019.