So what’s the fuss all about? 

In a nutshell, the bargaining code is intended to give Australia’s media industry, as publishers, direct payment from Google and Facebook for the right to display their news content on their platforms. 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission held an 18-month inquiry which found there was an imbalance in power between the digital platforms and the media companies-which threatened the viability of the news businesses. The ACCC proposed a bargaining code to ensure that news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate. The government has also argued that these tech giants should pay newsrooms a "fair" amount for their journalism. They claim that regulation was needed to ensure journalism was properly funded after Google & Facebook took the big chunk of advertising revenue away from traditional media.

How did these digital platforms react? 

Initially, not too well. 

Google threatened to remove the search engine from the country and ran a public campaign against the media code arguing it was unfair and that it would “break how Google search would work in Australia''. Mel Silva, the Managing Director, Google Australia, said the proposed news code was untenable and would set a “dangerous precedent” of paying for links, with an open letter published 6th of January 2021. 

On the other hand, Facebook claims that its core service doesn’t rely heavily on news articles, unlike Google. The social platform estimates that only about 4 per cent of posts on their network are works of journalism and that it would block its Australian users of Facebook and Instagram from sharing local and international news if the proposed law is approved. 

In contrast to Google and Facebook, Microsoft with its own search engine Bing has shown its support behind the proposed law. Stating last February that, “The code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news businesses.".

What’s Next?

There have been a lot of debates and negotiations that are ongoing for more than a year about why this legislation should come to pass or not. The two sides of the coin (sometimes three) kept everyone including us in Digital Habitus anxious about the outcome, since most of our digital marketing services utilise both Google and Facebook’s network, catering to businesses in Australia. This includes Search Engine Optimisation, paid search advertising, social media advertising and such.

One thing is for sure and everyone can agree, there has to be an agreement between the two sides for it to be beneficial to both the benefactors and the intended audience. News is news and we need to hear-see it one way or the other.

February 17, 2021 - Google finally announced that it will feature Newsroom’s articles in its new Google News Showcase, a tab within Google News that contains licensed content from official partners in Australia and beyond. It has been reported in the past weeks that they have been signing deals with the biggest publishers for this exact reason. Read more about it here.

Obviously, search is what Google cares about the most. Instead of breaking its engine and/or opening it up to its rivals like Microsoft, Google came to an agreement with Australia. They have also invited every other country to pursue a similar direction. 

February 22, 2021 - Facebook made changes to Sharing and Viewing News on Facebook in Australia. Facebook has announced that they have been able to reach an agreement with the Australian government and clarified that they will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that the social platform won’t automatically be subject to a forced negotiation. As a result of these changes, the social channel will restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days. Read more about it here.