In an interview with TOI, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister of state for IT and electronics, said India is planning to make Google and Facebook pay news publishers for using their content.
The news publishers will soon demand payment from big tech companies like Google and Facebook for using their original content. The government has made it seem like it’s considering regulating major tech companies that are involved in the content industry, like Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, and Amazon Pay. For using their original content, Indian newspapers and digital news publishers receive a cut of the profits. A number of other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, and Spain, have already adopted the strategy.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister of state for information technology and electronics, stated that the government is currently considering amending the IT laws to accommodate the changes. In the context of new legalizations and regulations, Chandrasekhar told TOI, “the market power on digital advertising that is currently being exercised by the Big Tech majors, which places Indian media companies at a position of disadvantage, is an issue that is seriously being examined in the context of new legalisations and rules.”
Chandrashekhar continued by saying that the growth of social media and tech platforms in India has not benefited the original content creators because they are not given a cut of the profits. “The news publishers have no negotiating leverage at all, and this needs to be tackled legislatively. This is an important issue for us , he declared. Chandrasekhar has only recently stated that there are no intentions to charge the big IT companies for local news.
Australia is the first country to make it mandatory for big tech companies to pay for original content
Australia passed a new media law earlier this year requiring large tech companies to pay for local news. Following a disagreement with the government over paying for material, Facebook disabled news content in Australia just before the new law took effect. Facebook’s decision to exclude news content in Australia was dubbed “arrogant” and “disappointing” by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“The code will ensure that news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public-interest journalism in Australia,”Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said in a joint statement. They also said that the government was “pleased to see progress by both Google and, more recently, Facebook in reaching commercial arrangements with Australian news media businesses.”
Following a dispute with the Australian government over a rule requiring the tech firm to compensate news publishers for using their content, Facebook stopped allowing users to view and share news on its platform.
Canada too proposed law on revenue sharing between big tech companies
The Canadian government put up a law proposal in May 2022 to ensure fair revenue distribution between online news publishers and social media giants like Google and Facebook.
The need for such a rule stems from the fact that companies profit from news information provided by news organizations without compensating the original creators.
Support GreatGameIndia
