- Meta threatened to remove news from its US platform due to a media bill in a Monday statement.
- Facebook and other platforms will have to pay publishers for news distribution under the media bill.
- After a similar bill in Australia was passed, Meta had previously stopped all access to news in Australia.
Meta, the owner of Facebook, warned that it could take down all US news if Congress passed its media competition bill. This will require Meta and other platforms like Facebook to compensate broadcasters and publishers.
Andy Stone is Meta’s policy communications Director. Twitter published Meta’s statement regarding its position on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA.) (JCPA.)
Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced the JCPA with bipartisan support. It allows publishers to negotiate with social media platforms such as Facebook and Google about how their content will be distributed on these platforms. This includes the requirement that social media platforms pay for news content.
“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 round,” Meta said in the statement.
“No company should be required to pay for content users don’t want to view and that’s not a reliable source of revenue.”
Senate Judiciary Committee approved JCPAIn September 2022, it was approved by the Senate but has yet to be ratified by the full Senate.
Meta has been involved in a long-running struggle with similar policies before. The social media giant will be a household name in 2021 Temporarily banned Australian usersYou can view, share, or interact with the news content on its platform. Australia offered a similar billMeta is being forced by media companies to pay for its news content.
This ban also prevented anyone from worldwide viewing Australian media news companies’ information. It blocked pages that were meant for fire departmentsEmergency services, food banks, as well as other vital organizations in Australia.
After the bill had been amended, Meta was able to reverse the ban. Reached a deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News CorpTo pay the media company to distribute its content on Facebook.
Canada faces a similar threat with MetaIf the country passes the Online News Act, which would also require the platform’s payment for news, it will be done in October.
