CANBERRA, Australia (AP) —
Australia’s Parliament will debate making Google and Facebook pay for news
after a Senate committee on Friday recommended no changes to drafts of the
world’s first such laws.
The Senate Economics
Legislation Committee has been scrutinizing the bill since it was introduced in
Parliament in December.
The senators rejected
Facebook and Google’s arguments that the so-called media bargaining code, which
would force the digital giants to negotiate payment to Australian news media
for the news content to which the platforms link, was unworkable.
But the committee also
recognized that the legislation carried risks and should be reviewed after a
year.
“The committee accepts that
there remains the possibility that not all risks have been taken into account,
and that further refinement may be needed to the arbitration mechanism and
other parts of the code so that they work in an optimum manner,” the report
said.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg
said his department would review the law a year after it took effect to “ensure
it is delivering outcomes that are consistent with the government’s policy
intent.”
“The government expects all
parties to continue to work constructively towards reaching commercial
agreements in the spirit of collaboration and good faith encouraged by the
code,” he added.
Parliament is scheduled to
consider the bill on Tuesday and the conservative government hopes it will be
approved during the next two-week sitting.
The bill’s passage is
guaranteed in the House of Representatives where the government holds a
majority of seats, unlike in the Senate.
Google continues to hold out
hope for amendments.
“We look forward to engaging
with policymakers through the parliamentary process to address our concerns and
achieve a code that works for everyone — publishers, digital platforms, and
Australian businesses and users,” Google Director Lucinda Longcroft said.
Google has ramped up its
campaign against the proposed law, telling the committee last month that the
platform would likely make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the
code were introduced.
Google has not responded to a
request from The Associated Press for an explanation of how it would go about
excluding Australia from its search function.
https://apnews.com/article/australia-media-legislation-news-media-bills-9e900361d3a262572627c778fda3b0c1
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