On Tuesday, New Zealand’s conservative coalition government stated that it will move forward with a bill that would make it compulsory for digital technology platforms to pay media firms for news.
The law is being tabled as New Zealand media organizations compete with internet firms for advertising dollars, forcing them to find new ways to offer news content.
Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith stated, “The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, initiated by the previous Labour government last year, will be submitted to Parliament with amendments to support local media companies to earn revenue for the news they produce”.
“The proposed changes would align it more closely with Australia’s digital bargaining law”, Goldsmith added.
That law, which went into effect in Australia in March 2021, provides the government power to force internet firms such as Facebook owner Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc’s Google to negotiate content supply deals with media outlets if the parties fail to reach an agreement on payments.
Meta claimed that the New Zealand bill ignored the realities of how its platforms work, including their voluntary nature, the preferences of users and the free value it gave to news publishers.
In an email, a Meta spokesperson wrote, “We will continue to be open and transparent with the government and publishers on our business decisions as this bill progresses”.
Google did not reply immediately to a request for comment.
After Canada passed a similar law in 2023, Meta blocked news articles from appearing on Facebook. Meta has stated that it intends to stop paying Australian media businesses for news and the government is still considering whether to intervene.
Goldsmith went on to say that the proposed reforms would give the communications minister authority to decide which digital platforms would come under the law.
“An independent regulator will be appointed as the bill’s authority”, Goldsmith added.
According to Goldsmith, the right-wing ACT New Zealand party, one of the governing coalition’s partners, will not support the bill, thus it will the support of other parties to pass.
The opposition Labour Party stated that it would check the amendments but supported the intent of the bill.
In a statement, Willie Jackson, Labour spokesperson for media and broadcasting, stated, “I am relieved the government is seeing sense and progressing with legislation to make the media landscape fairer for news companies operating online”.
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