Facebook and Google have to pay for news in Australia. That’s the law! Except… there are loopholes that allow for negotiation, and the way the law is written allows both sides to spin the story as if they won. This raises the question: Who actually won?
Taken at face value, it looks like big media used their government connections to shake down big tech. I haven’t seen a list of small publishers that will benefit from this legislation, so we’ll wait and see if this is simply the Australian oligarchy looking for a payday.
Do you know what’s really missing? Data. Which would you rather have: a few million dollars or the data to increase engagement and help your advertisers predict likely consumer purchasing behaviors? If this is the intellectual and policy framework lawmakers are planning to use, big tech has nothing to fear.
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