Big Tech is in big trouble. The public is demanding political action to regulate the dominant digital platforms—Google and Facebook in particular. Privacy activists scent blood in the water. Although few ordinary internet users seem to worry about giving away their data, reports about potential identify theft have put many people on edge. Politicians are holding hearings, and the press is only too happy to pile in, hoping to claw back at least a little of the advertising revenue media companies have lost to the internet giants.
But the scene isn’t Washington. It’s Canberra, the Australian capital. And far from just grandstanding for the cameras, the country’s leading politicians are actively pushing legislation that could see Google and Facebook forced to pay Australia’s news outlets for the snippets they show in search results and on users’ timelines. More new laws and regulations are on the way, including mandatory local content rules for streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Amid the growing backlash against the all-powerful digital giants, Australia has become ground zero: a test case for how far lawmakers will go, how the internet corporations will fight back, and whether Washington will defend them as it has in the past.
