New Zealand prepares law to crack down on tech giants as Canadian news outlets face Meta block

The Ardern government is preparing to introduce legislation that would force tech giants Meta and Google into commercial negotiations with New Zealand news outlets, as Australian authorities assess whether its laws aimed at supporting media companies have worked.

Canadian news outlets that want to be paid by the tech giants were also told last week their content would be ripped from Meta’s online website Facebook if its government passes a law to force it and Google into any commercial agreements. The behaviour of the two major platforms in other jurisdictions is being closely watched by local media companies as they consider how they continue to receive funding via agreements with the tech giants.

Australia’s news media bargaining code was introduced last year in an effort to force Google and Facebook to pay eligible large and small news publishers to display articles in the search engine and “newsfeed”. It was introduced after the competition regulator found there was an imbalance of bargaining power between media companies and the digital platforms and is widely considered a solid attempt to clawback the advertising revenue lost from the rapid rise of technology giants Google and Meta.

But Google and Meta’s reluctance to cooperate in other markets has raised questions among local news providers about whether more needs to be done to ensure agreements will be renewed once they expire.

The introduction of the code led to millions of dollars worth of deals across companies including Nine Entertainment Co, owner of this masthead, News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian and Herald Sun, the ABC and Guardian Australia. These companies and smaller outlets were asked to submit their views on the effectiveness of laws to the government earlier this year.

Multiple federal government sources familiar with the review, who spoke anonymously because timing isn’t finalised, said Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones will hand down the report before the end of the year. The review, which is being run by Treasury, was expected to be completed by September, but was delayed and only recently provided to the ministers involved, including Communications minister Michelle Rowland.

Loading

Meta and Google have previously raised concerns the laws in Australia would set a precedent and potentially force them to pay millions of dollars to publishers all over the world. That concern is becoming a reality as Canada prepares to introduce laws that will mandate payment to its publishers. Media sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said New Zealand is drafting its own piece of legislation because it is unsatisfied with negotiations between key stakeholders and the digital platforms.

If Canada’s bill passes Ottawa’s House of Commons, it will be the second country to pass a law forcing the platforms into payment for content that news publishers create. A government estimate claims Google and Facebook could be forced to pay out $CA329.2 million ($377.7 million) a year if the country passes the legislation.