Making Big Tech pay for news they profit from

Time to pay up: Tech giants like Google and Meta have been profiting from published news. Governments in Britain, Brazil, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland are all looking to emulate Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. — Getty Images/TNS

The California Assembly recently voted in favour of journalism by supporting the proposed California Journalism Preser-vation Act (Assembly Bill 886), which would require social media companies to pay a “usage fee” to publishers for the news content that the platforms benefit from. The publishers, in turn, would have to spend at least 70% of the fees they receive on journalists or support staff. The money would come out of the platforms’ advertising revenue and the amount would be determined by arbitration.

The Bill now goes before the state Senate, but it has been postponed to 2024 for refinement.