Australian Watchdogs May Ok Talks Between Google, Facebook And Media

Australia’s competition watchdog announced on Thursday, July 1, it issued draft proposals to authorize regional newspaper industry group, Country Press Australia, to negotiate with Google and Facebook for payments for news content on their platforms.

Country Press Australia (CPA) is seeking authorization to allow its members to hammer out a payments deal with Google and Facebook for use of news content on the tech platforms, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) stated.

CPA represents 81 news publishers that publish about 160 regional newspapers across the country.

“Allowing the publishers of 160 newspapers to collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook should help address some of the considerable bargaining power imbalance that exists between the digital giants and these local news outlets,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

The proposed authorization, which would expire after 10 years, follows an interim authorization granted by the ACCC to CPA in April to commence the negotiations.

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