Facebook’s parent company Meta warned on Monday that the social media giant could pull news from its platform if Congress signs a proposal that would make it easier for news organizations to bargain collectively with the tech giants.
In an effort to save the lagging local news industry, lawmakers are considering adding the proposed Journalism Competition and Protection Act to an annual defense bill that would help smaller news outlets compete for more revenue from Google and other companies. Meta for news contentThis was reported by sources who informed Reuters.
But a spokesperson for Meta threatened that the legislative move could lead to a ban on the social media site “rather than succumb to government-mandated negotiations that unfairly ignore any value we provide to news outlets by increasing traffic and subscriptions”.
Spokesman Andy Stone also disputed that in a statement Posted on Twitter the bill fails to grasp the fundamental truth that “publishers and broadcasters put their own content on our platform because it benefits them – not the other way around.”
He added that the proposed bill would set a “terrible precedent for all American businesses” because it would create “a cartel-like organization in which one private company is required to subsidize other private businesses.”
The News Media Alliance, a trade group representing newspaper publishers, is lobbying Congress to include the bill in the defense spending plan. The group said, “local newspapers cannot afford another few years of use and abuse from Big Tech, and time is running out to take action.
“If Congress doesn’t act soon, we risk allowing social media to become America’s de facto local newspaper,” the group said.
US Senator Amy Klobuchar is the main supporter of the bill.
“We’ve seen a staggering erosion of local newspapers in the country,” he said in a recent interview The Seattle Times.
“Google and Facebook are worth more than $1 trillion combined… Revenue has literally changed. Yes, everyone is online, but content providers, reporters should be compensated for what they do and it shouldn’t be given to these mega companies that are the dominant platforms.
But more than two dozen groups, including the ACLU, have advised Congress not to approve the measure, warning that it would “create ill-advised antitrust benefits for publishers and broadcasters” and that the revenue from negotiations or arbitration does not warrant it. to journalists.
With post wires