California wants to force social networks to pay for information

New battle in sight between tech giants and press. The California embly adopted a text obliging the major social networks to remunerate the media in exchange for content shared on their platforms. And this despite Meta’s threat to remove articles, photos and videos.

The bill, submitted by elected Democrats and Republicans, was ped by a large majority at the end of the week. This “California Journalism Preservation” Act must now p the Senate in the coming weeks.

The text, which applies to the major platforms, provides for the payment of part of their advertising revenue to the producers of digital journalistic content, following an arbitration mechanism. 70% of the sums must be devoted to writing.

“Slush fund”

But the text provoked the ire of Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram etc.). If the law were enacted, “we would be forced to remove information from Facebook and Instagram rather than fund a slush fund that would mainly benefit major media outlets based out of state (from California, editor’s note) under the guise of helping California press publishers, ”warned Andy Stone, spokesperson for Meta, last week.

The US group also pointed out that publishers were self-uploading their articles and videos on social media, noting that media consolidation in California had taken place long before the rise of Meta.

For the defenders of this law, on the other hand, the project constitutes a “lifeline” for the local press, in difficulty. According to Buffy Wicks, who initiated the bill, California has lost more than 100 news organizations over the past decade.

Several ociations representing the media, including News/Media Alliance, have deemed Meta’s threat “undemocratic and undignified” and support the law.

Arm wrestling in Australia, Canada etc.

This is not the first time that such a tussle has occurred. In Australia, Mark Zuckerberg’s company had briefly deleted news content , in 2021, before the vote on a law on the remuneration of newspapers by the tech giants. “Australian law has created countless jobs for local journalists and paid 140 million dollars to news organizations,” observe several ociations of American publishers.

Late last year, in the United States, Meta threatened to shut down Facebook News in retaliation for ‘a bill pending in Congress to allow publishers to negotiate better compensation against the tech giants by speaking with one voice.

Similarly, recently in Canada, Meta and Google have threatened to suppress access to articles, if a law providing for media compensation is ped.

In Europe, too, the fight was bitter. French law on neighboring rights in 2019 and the European directive that inspires it , make it possible to remunerate content. Agreements have been concluded between Facebook and the publishers, setting the principles of remuneration.

(with AFP)