A 2019 study estimated about 3000 journalism jobs have been lost in Australia in the past decade as traditional media companies bled advertising revenue to Google and Facebook which paid nothing for news content. Photo: Getty ImagesAustralia will force US tech giants Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay Australian media outlets for news content in a landmark move to protect independent journalism that will be watched around the world. Australia will become the first country to require Facebook and Google to pay for news content provided by media companies under a royalty-style system that will become law this year, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said. For every $A100 ($NZ107) spent on online advertising in Australia, excluding classifieds, nearly a third goes to Google and Facebook, according to Frydenberg. Publishers in Germany, France and Spain have pushed to pass national copyright laws that force Google pay licensing fees when it publishes snippets of their news articles.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 31, 2020 04:21 UTC