Local media companies in New Zealand will be required to pay for the re-posting of their news content on the websites of search engines. Hon Willie Jackson, the Broadcasting and Media Minister, released a press release on Sunday.
It's not fair that the big digital platforms get to share news for free. Willie Jackson said that it was only fair that they paid for the news. Small regional and community newspapers in New Zealand are struggling to stay afloat as more advertising moves online. It's important that those who benefit from their news content pay for it.
In Australia, a similar law was passed. Lawmakers in Canada are crafting related policy. New Zealand said its new rule would be based on what other countries have done.
They would be able to negotiate their own deals with publishers. If no deal is reached within a certain period of time, the government would have to negotiate. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, there are a few commercial deals in place with New Zealand news organizations, for instance with NZ ME.
After the Australian legislation was passed, Meta tried to undermine it, and for a time the company blocked all news from its Facebook platform. The Australian government claimed that the law had been a success and resulted in more than 30 agreements.
The country's Labour Party-led government is expected to easily pass the legislation once it is fully drafted.
Meta ended its U.S. pay-to-republish deals with major outlets in order to make up the difference in Australia and elsewhere. In the past, the social media company had paid more than 100 million dollars to these news organizations. Most people don't come to Facebook for news and as a business it doesn't make sense to over invest in areas that don't align with user preferences. The "news feed" is never mind.
As the online advertising model continues to be a difficult financial framework to succeed in, media outlets have been struggling through cost cuts and layoffs.
Neither company immediately responded to Gizmodo's inquiry. Mia Garlick, Meta's regional policy director, told the Wall Street Journal that she was concerned about the impact future legislation would have on innovation in both the media and tech sector.
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