Google and Facebook will soon be forced to pay media companies for the right to use their stories or face fines of up to $10million for br...
Google and Facebook will soon be forced to pay media companies for the right to use their stories or face fines of up to $10million for breaching a copyright deal.
In a world first, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released a new draft code directing the American search engine and social media giants to negotiate fair payment deals.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said Google and Facebook had 'an imbalance in bargaining power' and this needed to be fixed.
Google and Facebook will soon be forced to pay media companies for the right to use their stories or face fines of up to $10million for breaching a copyright deal
The competition regulator is proposing new laws that would allow commercial news media companies to negotiate 'an appropriate payment for news content'.
Mr Frydenberg as Treasurer would have the power to compel Facebook and Google to negotiate with media companies.
A maximum penalty of $10million would be imposed on the multinational companies if Google or Facebook breached a deal to share content and were convicted in the Federal Court.
The digital giants could also be fined the equivalent of three times the commercial benefit they obtained from illegally sharing the news content, or ten per cent of their annual revenue in Australia during the past year.
Under the proposed new arrangement, Google and Facebook would be forced into third-party arbitration with media companies if they failed to reach an agreement with them.
An independent umpire would make a decision within 45 business days.
Should media companies fail to agree on an umpire with Google or Facebook, the Australian Communications and Media Authority would appoint a panel of three arbitrators with legal, industry or economic experience.
News outlets and the social media giants would pay for this conciliation over payment terms for circulating their content.
The ACCC's final report was published on Friday, three months after the government directed it to develop a mandatory code of conduct.
The new rules would give more power to news media businesses that earned at least $150,000 a year in revenue and served an Australian audience.
The government-owned ABC and SBS, and trade publications would not be covered.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said Google and Facebook had 'an imbalance in bargaining power' and this needed to be fixed. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is proposing maximum fines of $10million if they broke a deal with media companies
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