Canberra's face-off with Facebook
Is the news media bargaining code a victory for all Australian news content producers, or is it just big tech versus big news media? Over the past few months, the Australian Government and ‘tech giants’ have been at odds over the (soon to be implemented) News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. The stated motivation for this code is “… to address a bargaining power imbalance that exists between digital platforms and Australian news businesses which was identified in the Final Report of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Digital Platforms Inquiry.” Essentially, the Australian Government decided that Australian news content providers were not being compensated adequately, which sounds reasonable on face value.