Australia will compel Facebook and Google to pay media outlets for news content

The Treasurer of Australia has ordered that country’s competition watchdog to create a code of conduct for Facebook and Google which would force the tech giants to pay Australian media companies for using their content, ABC News (AU) reports. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was working on developing a voluntary code of conduct, but told the Australian government it was “unlikely” to get a voluntary agreement around the issue of payment for content.

The ACCC was working on the code as part of a series of recommendations from its 2019 digital platforms inquiry. The report from that inquiry found — in addition to privacy concerns— that in Australia, Google and Facebook were taking a large share of online advertising...

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