Meta threatens to delete news from Facebook.. in this case

Facebook owner Meta Platforms has threatened to remove news from its platform entirely if US Congress passes Competition and Preservation of Journalism Act, arguing that broadcasters benefited from publishing their content on its platform.

The law makes it easier for news organizations to collectively negotiate with internet giants like Meta and Alphabet, the owner of Google, in about the terms in basis on which their content may be published online.

Sources familiar with the matter said lawmakers are considering adding the competition and press law to an annual defense bill as a way to help the local news industry. in difficulty.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone said on Monday in a tweet that the company should consider removing the news if the law passes “instead of undergoing government-mandated deals that unfairly ignore any value we bring to news organizations by increasing revenue.” and subscriptions,” according to Reuters.

He added that the law does not recognize that publishers and broadcasters post content on the platform because it “benefits their bottom line and not the other way around.”

The News Media Alliance, a trade group representing newspaper publishers, urged Congress to add the bill to the defense bill, arguing that “local newspapers cannot afford to be exploited by Big Tech for many more years and the time to act is running out.”

“If Congress doesn’t act soon, we risk allowing the social media to become America’s de facto local newspaper,” the coalition said.

More than 20 groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Computer and Telecommunications Industry Association, have urged Congress not to pass the bill, saying it would “exempt publishers and broadcasters from antitrust laws and not require them to pay journalists money earned through negotiation or arbitration.”

According to a government report, a similar Australian law has been successful in large extent after entering in effective in March 2021 following talks with leading technology companies.

The law led to a brief interruption of news broadcasts on Facebook in Australia.

Since the law came in in force, many technology companies, including Meta and Alphabet, have signed more than 30 deals with i media to compensate them for monetizing the content, the report adds.