Proposed legislation that would force Big Tech to pay publishers for aggregating news content online stalled in the Judiciary Committee Thursday after an amendment introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz to prohibit censorship “collusion” narrowly passed, sharply dividing the bipartisan sponsors of the bill.
“I don’t think we can support this bill anymore,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, a co-sponsor of the bill. “I think the agreement that we had has been blown up.”
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which would temporarily exempt newspapers, broadcasters and other publishers from antitrust laws to collectively negotiate an annual fee from Google and Meta/Facebook, will be held over for a future committee hearing to determine if it moves to the Senate floor for a vote.
