WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Campaigners for Facebook and Google have thrown pressure against new U.S. legislation that seeks to support struggling news publishers by allowing them to negotiate together against the technical companies on revenue sharing and other contracts.
U.S. lawmakers unveiled the plan in Congress Wednesday to address a perceived power imbalance between news outlets and the tech giants. Critics complain that companies use content to drive traffic and revenue to their platforms without compensating the publishers fairly.
The move adds to pressure on the tech companies, which are facing a lawsuit against trust and the threat of more regulation.
Google, which declined to comment on the proposal, launched a website here on Thursday saying it was “one of the world’s largest financial backers of journalism” because of its advertising revenue. and content licensing fees that it provides to the media. Google said its search engine sends readers to publishers’ websites 24 billion times a month.
Also opposed to the bill are two technology industry trade groups owned by Facebook and Google – the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice.
“Aiming at news is in the public interest, but we do not believe that cartel building is the way to fund the public good,” said CCIA President Matt Schruers.
The group opposed the 2019 version of the legislation and sees the proposed joint marketing as a way to limit competition.
Carl Szabo of NetChoice said his goal was to kill the bill or at least persuade lawyers to change it so that it would be limited to smaller publications, with the exception of institutions like the Washington Post and New York Times.
“I don’t think they should be doing this legislation, time,” he said. “This legislation allows the Washington Post and New York Times and other major newspapers to call the sights for the smallest establishments. ”
Some industry observers say the proposal could unfairly benefit private equity firms and hedge funds that have seized medium and large newspaper chains. Newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Miami Herald are controlled by the likes of Alden Global Capital and Chatham Asset Management.
The bills don’t come long after Facebook clashed with Australia over how much it should pay news publishers for their content. During the fighting, Facebook leaked Australian news pages and only returned them when the government granted discounts.
Facebook declined to comment on new U.S. legislation.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who backed the bill in the Senate, said the Australian controversy reflected the plight of Facebook and the need to give publishers more leeway. “We need to have a level playing field and allow people to negotiate,” she said Thursday in a conference hearing.
The technical platforms in Congress, where Democrats are plagued by misinformation online and conservatives argue that their views are thwarted, do not seem to have many friends.
Supporters of the legislation include David Chavern, president and chief executive officer of the News Media Alliance, who sees bargaining as an essential way to increase the bargaining power of small and medium – sized publishers.
“There needs to be a dispute resolution mechanism” between platforms and publishers as well as bargaining, Chavern said, adding that his organization is flexible about what that might involve.
Reciting with Diane Bartz and Helen Coster; additional narration by Paresh Dave; edited by Chris Sanders and Cynthia Osterman