With the COVID-19 pandemic, newspapers in Australia were stopped because advertising agencies backed off.
So, as declared by them, the Government of Australia is taking measures to make the digital platforms Google and Facebook to pay the local media for news content, as the pandemic causes a collapse in advertising revenues.
According to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the competition watchdog, ACCC(Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) would release a set of draft rules for the platforms. Such that they pay fair compensation to the journalistic content from local news agencies.
Earlier France and Spain tried unsuccessfully to make Google and Facebook pay. But Frydenberg expressed confidence that Australia would succeed in doing so.
“We’re very aware of the challenges and complexity of ensuring a compulsory code. Many other countries have tried it without much success,” Frydenberg told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “We think we can be world-leading.”
The ACCC had already tried to voluntary code by which the global giants would agree to pay local media for their news content. That was an unsuccessful attempt, as both the parties didn’t agree upon negotiation over the issue. Neither did they respond immediately.
While Google was holding 47 percent of online advertising, Facebook was claiming 24 percent in Australia.
