Australia’s parliament passed a law on Thursday to make Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc pay media companies for content on their platforms in reforms that countries such as Britain and Canada are looking to replicate. Read MoreThe new law sets the stage for a dispute-handling process largely untested in corporate Australia, should negotiations between Big Tech and media companies fail. The revised code also allows the tech companies a longer period to cut media deals before the state intervenes. For months Facebook and Google threatened to pull core services from Australia if the law took effect. But in the days before the vote, and before Facebook blocked news, Google struck some deals with publishers News Corp.Several large Australian media companies, including Seven West Media, Nine Entertainment and the Australian Broadcasting Corp have said they were in talks with Facebook.

Source: Standard Digital February 25, 2021 08:03 UTC