TikTok, YouTube, and Meta’s platforms could be forced to negotiate with news outlets in a review of the media bargaining code.
In a nine-month review released yesterday, the Treasury department said that while the code had been a “success to date” it proposed three further down the line. The review also did not comment Meta’s resistance to strike deals with outlets such as SBS.
The report also suggested that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) could start prying into deals between news publishers and digital platforms.
The publishers quoted in the report posited that TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, should be added to the designated media company lists, which would subject these businesses to the same level of scrutiny as Meta and Google.
However, the report said that the more than 30 commercial agreements struck between Google and Meta and Australian news businesses would have been unlikely without the code.
There were a few main recommendations from the report, the first being for the ACCC to prepare yet more reports on the extent to which digital platforms make news content of Australian news businesses available and whether a bargaining power imbalance exists between these digital platforms and Australian news businesses.
It also said the ACCC should investigate whether it can use its information-gathering powers to obtain information about the commercial agreements between platforms and publishers — the kind of scrutiny that precious few in the tech, or even some in the news, industry would want.
The review also said that Google had reached 23 commercial agreements with publishers and continued to negotiate agreements after the review started, finalising a deal with Minderoo Foundation on behalf of 24 publishers in May this year.
Google’s agreements with Nine Entertainment and Seven run for five years, and its global agreement with News Corp runs for three years. Google did not provide information on the terms of its agreements with other news businesses.
“We’ve been partnering with Australian news companies to strengthen quality journalism for two decades,” said Lucinda Longcroft, Google’s director of government affairs & public policy, in a statement.
“Over the last two years, we’ve furthered our significant contribution to the Australian news industry by launching News Showcase and signing agreements with more than 70 Australian news businesses, representing 200 mastheads across the country. The majority of these outlets are regional or local.”
Meta submitted that it has reached commercial agreements with 13 news businesses, which run for three years, but it did not provide a list of these agreements. The report said that, unlike Google, it had not reached agreements with news businesses such as SBS or The Conversation.
Apparently, Meta “appeared” to end negotiations during the second half of last year. The company told the inquiry that:
“The budget to support content agreements for these products was limited and it was therefore inevitable that some news businesses would not receive a deal.”
Meta declined to comment on the report’s findings.
SBS, meanwhile, submitted to the report that “Whilst the Code has operated to effectively incentivise Google to negotiate and complete a deal with SBS, it has not provided sufficient incentive to Meta to engage constructively with us.
“Despite commencing preliminary discussions with SBS in February 2021, Meta advised SBS in July 2021 that it would not be entering negotiations for a commercial arrangement for news content. SBS has not been provided with an explanation,” the company added.
The Conversation, meanwhile, submitted that “Google engaged in bargaining with The Conversation in good faith and agreed to fund The Conversation under the Code. Without providing a reason, Facebook declined to negotiate with The Conversation and SBS, as well as many other quality media companies otherwise eligible under the Code.”
Without knowing the details of the negotiations, it is impossible to know exactly what the sticking points were for each organisation. However, with the report suggesting new powers for the ACCC, it may seem as though the days of in-private, individual bargaining between platforms and publishers might soon be numbered.
