The newly proposed media bill seeks to give news organizations more power while negotiating a fee for the content shared by social media firms. Here’s all about the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.
What is the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act?
With the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, the US is aiming to give news organizations more power in negotiating fees for the content shared on sites such as Facebook. However, it is under attack from Meta as it is threatening to remove all news content from Facebook. Similar laws were previously enacted by Frace and Australia. However, Google and Meta have agreed to pay the publishers there. Moreover, other nations including New Zealand and Canada are contemplating similar bills.
“No company should be forced to pay for content. And users don’t want to see and that’s not a meaningful source of revenue. Put simply: the government creates a cartel-like entity that requires one private company to subsidize other private entities. It is a terrible precedent for all American businesses,” stated Andy Stone. Stone is the policy communications director at Meta.
More on the US Meta bill
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) 2022 will give power to publishers who have been complaining about declining revenues. The bill was introduced by Amy Klobuchar, the influential Democratic Senator of Minnesota. It is also reported to have bipartisan support. Initially introduced in the nation’s annual national defense spending bill, the JCPS will have been passed by the end of this year. However, on Tuesday, Congress removed the JCPA from the defense bill, increasing uncertainty about the proposal.
“The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act fails to recognize the key fact. Publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves because it benefits their bottom line. Not the other way around” stated Meta. Additionally, NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, two major industry groups stated they will launch extensive ad campaigns to oppose JCPA. Additionally, over two dozen organizations including the Wikimedia Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote a letter to congress opposing the proposal.
How are other nations dealing with the law?
In 2019, France became the first EU nation to enact a law on the publishing rights of news agencies and media companies. The directive, called neighboring rights requires tech firms to discuss remuneration with publishers for news content. Following long negotiations, Meta agreed to pay publishers for news content in October 2020. Last year, Australia introduced the News Media Bargaining Code. The code attracted a similar reaction from Meta before agreeing.
