Is there an upcoming new style of payments for linking to news content in the world?
Recently, Australia has developed a new type of law that will force social media giants to pay for linking to content that consists of news. The funds from these fees are to be redirected to the publishers, i.e., the authors of the news. More and more countries in the world announce a change in the style of payment for news content. According to the Australian government, but not only, it is not fair for the social media giants to use ready-made news content, previously prepared by traditional media publishers. In addition, there is the fact of regulating the priority of displaying messages to users depending on the content and compliance with the direction or vision of displaying the content of a specific giant.
Facebook blocked all news on its platform in Australia last month in response to new legislation that requires digital giants to pay traditional media for their journalism.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his counterpart in Australia are working hand in hand to amend the law to ensure fairer profit-sharing by internet giants with news content creators. Facebook made a deal in Australia, which amended this law, although it still requires money from the technological giant for news content.
The head of Facebook in Canada stated that creating a law to pay publishers to link to their news content would be a worst-case scenario for social media like Facebook.
Meanwhile, at a parliamentary committee hearing, Kevin Chan said that such regulation in Canada would hamper a free and open Internet and that Facebook is already supporting struggling older media by directing traffic to their sites.
New Democrat MP Heather McPherson accused internet giants and the liberal government of developing “cozy relationships” with big tech corporations that protect their profits at the expense of local media and Canadian taxpayers.
Chan, in turn, noted Facebook Canada announced that it would invest $ 18 million in sustainable business models over the next six years. He also said that legislation similar to Australia is not something he would like to do unless there really would be no choice.
Lawmakers have also voiced concerns about online hate speech and disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines as Canadians increasingly rely on digital communication to keep abreast of the pandemic.
Minister Steven Guilbeault said that the government is working on a three-pronged response to the challenges that social media and other major online content providers pose to the way media in Canada has been regulated, financed and controlled.
One part of the answer is a bill before the House of Commons to modernize the approach to broadcasters, and the other part is to work on how to tax the largest internet companies, thus looking at how traditional media are financially supported.
There has been much hate to Facebook on the Internet recently for the role it played in communicating the tragedy of the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, lethal military violence against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, and racist posts in Canada.
