Social media sites like TikTok and Twitter could be assessed for whether they should pay news companies for content, under recommendations from the Treasury’s review of the news media bargaining code.
In its first year of operation, the code was a success, facilitating 23 agreements between Google and news publishers, and 13 agreements between Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, and news publishers, according to a Treasury report released on Thursday.
Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation also helped negotiate an agreement with the platforms representing 24 publishers in May this year.
Publishers including Guardian Australia and Nine said that in the absence of the code, there would not have been meaningful licensing negotiations with the platforms.
The ABC said it used the funding to appoint 57 regional positions, including reporters in 19 locations, 10 of which did not previously have them.
Under the code implemented by the former Coalition government, the treasurer can designate a digital platform’s involvement and that would bring on strict rules around negotiations with news publishers. So far no digital platform has been designated – the Morrison government was able to leverage the threat of the code being applied to bring Meta and Google to the table.
But this has meant some news publications have not been able to negotiate with the companies and other digital platforms such as TikTok and Twitter have not been included.
Treasury recommended the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) conduct periodic inquiries into what other platforms should be included.
Media companies have already suggested expanding the code. In a submission to an ACCC review of social media, Nine said TikTok had a “rapidly growing and unfair market power” and was an “unavoidable business partner” for news in Australia, meaning it should be covered by the code.
The report noted that some of the clauses in existing agreements would end the contracts should the digital platforms be designated under the code, meaning the news companies would not receive whatever outstanding funding had yet to be paid.
Google’s director of government affairs and public policy, Lucinda Longcroft, said Google’s contribution to the news industry in Australia now covered 70 Australian news businesses, representing 200 mastheads, the majority of which were local or regional.
Many of Google’s agreements run for five years, while all of Meta’s agreements run for three years. The shorter run for Meta’s agreements raises questions about whether the company will come to the table with a new agreement when the deals expire.
Meta cut a number of roles from its Australian news team as part of a global restructure last month that saw 11,000 people leave the company. The company had already indicated its plan to end in-house curation of Facebook news in Australia by 2021.
Meta declined to comment on the Treasury report, but in a response to the cuts announcement last month, its Australia and New Zealand managing director, Will Easton, indicated the company’s focus had shifted.
“While we have maintained news partnerships resources in Australia, user preferences have shifted to creator-driven content in products such as Watch and Reels, and this is where we will focus moving forward.”
The Treasury report has recommended a review of the code after four years of operation. The Public Interest Journalism Initiative criticised this proposal, however, saying it would be after many of the deals have expired.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, and the assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, said they would consider the recommendations of the report.
Jones said the platforms “must continue to negotiate in good faith with news businesses to ensure they are fairly remunerated for the news content they create”.
