Labor will push for government plans to force tech giants to pay news outlets to use their content on their platforms.
Ministers this week unveiled plans that would see Google and Meta pay newspaper publishers for all content used on their websites.
The plans fall under the comprehensive Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which aims to improve online competition while providing better protection for online consumers.
But in a seismic move for the publishing industry, the government is trying to introduce laws similar to those being introduced in Australia, which will lead to a significant increase in payments to news outlets to distribute their content.
A similar bill is currently under consideration in Canada and the US, and the UK’s plans are expected to be passed soon, with Labor promising to support the reforms.
Party circles have said they intend to support the bill, with Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer saying late last year it was “fair” for news outlets to be “remunerated for their work” and insisted that Google and Facebook stand to benefit the most from such content. .
When such laws were passed in Australia, it drew an angry backlash from tech companies as Facebook temporarily refused to stream news content from dozens of news providers in the country and implemented an effective blackout in response to the proposals.
Respectively press releaseLobbying has intensified from tech giants who insist they make little money posting news content, while Meta, the owner of Facebook, said news content plays a “small and declining role” on its platform.
An Australian-style confrontation with the UK is likely to embarrass Meta’s president of international affairs, none other than former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Under the proposed legislation, the Digital Markets arm, a division of the Competition and Markets Authority, will grant “strategic market status” to large technology companies.
The new kitemark will place certain expectations on them in terms of how they interact and relate to consumers and individual businesses, for example. B. forcing them to pay media outlets to use their content.