{"id":37421,"date":"2024-10-30T21:22:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T21:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/?p=37421"},"modified":"2024-10-30T21:22:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T21:22:19","slug":"is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Australian Bargaining Code Over?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, a Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society issued a much-anticipated interim report<\/a> containing 11 recommendations related to digital platform accountability and news policy in Australia. The Committee was appointed by law earlier this year to report on the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society. Given that U.S. policymakers look to Australia’s approach to news policy as a potential model, we wanted to highlight some of the recommendations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support Public Interest Journalism Through a Digital Platform Levy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One recommendation that has created a lot of buzz among those that study news policy is that the government should impose a \u201dlevy\u201d (that is, a tax) drawn from the revenues of certain digital platforms to support public interest journalism and improve media literacy. They also recommended that the government develop mechanisms to ensure \u201cfair and transparent\u201d distribution of the tax revenue, with a focus on small, independent and digital-only publishers, as well as those operating in underserved communities and rural, regional and remote areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee\u2019s recommendation for a levy as an alternative revenue mechanism to support journalism was grounded in their view that Australia\u2019s News Media Bargaining Code, the model for Canada\u2019s Online News Act as well as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act<\/a> (JCPA) in the U.S., has a \u201cfundamental problem.\u201d That is, the Code presumes that digital platforms want or need to carry news to provide a service. But both Meta and Google have downplayed<\/a> the economic value of news on their platforms. To prove the point, Meta has broken links to news in Canada, signaled their intention not to renew commercial agreements with publishers in Australia, and threatened to break news links in Australia if they are \u201cdesignated\u201d and therefore forced to forge agreements with publishers under the Code. (Google also \u201ctested<\/a>\u201d removing links to news on its platform when a similar proposal was imminent in California.) The Joint Select Committee therefore referred to the nexus between journalism and commercial arrangements with digital platforms under the Code as \u201cbroken.\u201d They recommended against designating Meta under the Code after hearing from digital publishers that designation might not only be ineffective but actually do harm if Meta blocked news as it did in Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Committee\u2019s recommendations, including their focus on transparency and small publishers, threw into relief the different interests within the news industry. Australia\u2019s Public Interest Journalism Initiative<\/a>, a nonprofit focused on \u201ca sustainable future for public interest journalism,\u201d welcomed the recommendations. So did the Digital Publishers\u2019 Alliance<\/a>, which represents 120 independent news outlets. But the major beneficiaries of the News Media Bargaining Code, NewsCorp<\/a>, Seven West and Nine, have objected to the Committee\u2019s recommendation for a levy and advocate for first designating Meta under the Code. It\u2019s unclear how they would manage Meta blocking links to news in Australia, as happened in Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That scenario may bring us to the most alarming recommendation in the report: to \u201cinvestigate the viability and effectiveness of \u2018must carry\u2019 requirements for digital platforms.\u201d We have written<\/a> about \u201cmust carry\u201d requirements in the context of the JCPA before: We strongly oppose them on constitutional and other grounds. In fact, we highly doubt they would pass muster in the U.S., particularly in light of recent Supreme Court decisions about the right of platforms to decide how to moderate the content they carry. (\u201cMust carry\u201d requirements also have an odd \u201ceditorial independence for me but not for thee\u201d quality coming from news advocates.) Luckily, the Joint Select Committee noted that there may well be \u201clegal or regulatory barriers to such a requirement\u201d in Australia, as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have consistently supported the notion of a levy on digital platforms to support local news, and we are not the only civil society organization to do so.<\/a> Our version, the \u201cSuperfund for the Internet<\/a>,\u201d incorporates a federal user fee based on the number of monthly active users of a platform. We\u2019re aware of other, similar proposals from economists, academics, politicians and civil society organizations over the past few years. We also support the deliberate focus on small, independent, and digital-only publishers and underserved communities rather than legacy business models and national outlets. We would welcome the opportunity to work with Congress to evolve and develop this proposal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Direct Government Support for Underserved Communities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Joint Select Committee recommended that the Australian government establish a short-term transition fund to help news publishers develop new revenue streams. This \u201cbridge\u201d between Meta\u2019s commercial deals and the design of a levy would also be particularly focused on small, independent and digital-only publishers, and those operating in underserved communities and rural, regional and remote areas. In fact, Australia\u2019s Communications Minister almost immediately announced<\/a> that the government would release $15 million in \u201curgent funding\u201d to be distributed among regional and community news outlets with revenue under $30 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We believe in the premise behind the recommendation, which is that news is a public good<\/a> that warrants appropriately-structured government support. This must include careful design of fund governance, editorial independence, political firewalls, and allocation transparency, among other stipulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establish a Dedicated Digital Regulator<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Joint Select Committee recommended that the Australian government establish a Digital Affairs Ministry \u201c…with overarching responsibility for the coordination of regulation to address the challenges and risks presented by digital platforms.\u201d This, too, is a recommendation we can get behind; Public Knowledge was the first to cover the benefits of a dedicated digital regulator<\/a> for the United States. The Joint Select Committee notes, \u201cbecause matters relating to the regulation of social media are broad, the new Digital Affairs Ministry should be given an equally broad remit so that it can regulate matters such as, but not limited to, privacy and consumer protection, competition, online safety, and scams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have long advocated that the way to break down the outsized control of Big Tech over our information systems is through a combination of policies: antitrust enforcement and competition policy to allow more new entrants; national privacy regulation to undermine the dominant platforms\u2019 data monopolies; a dedicated regulator to sustain these solutions; and smart news policy. We welcome these recommendations and ideas to advance the discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Declaring the Mandatory Bargaining Code “broken,” Australian regulators have recommended a digital tax and a dedicated digital regulator to support local news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":37422,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-37421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights","tag-platform-regulation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs the Australian Bargaining Code Over? - Public Knowledge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Declaring the Mandatory Bargaining Code "broken," Australian regulators have recommended a digital tax and a dedicated digital regulator to support local news.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the Australian Bargaining Code Over?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Declaring the Mandatory Bargaining Code "broken," Australian regulators have recommended a digital tax and a dedicated digital regulator to support local news.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Knowledge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-30T21:22:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-30T21:22:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Website-Pictures-1-1440x720.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lisa Macpherson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa Macpherson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lisa Macpherson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/#\/schema\/person\/757e28331d7a5e31a3290be1d16d219b\"},\"headline\":\"Is the Australian Bargaining Code Over?\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-30T21:22:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-30T21:22:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/\"},\"wordCount\":1043,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Website-Pictures-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Platform Regulation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Insights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/is-the-australian-bargaining-code-over\/\",\"name\":\"Is the Australian Bargaining Code Over? 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