Meta warns about stopping its News sharing in U.S. to protest publisher payment...

Meta warns about stopping its News sharing in U.S. to protest publisher payment plan

Expressing strong displeasure over the proposed Journalism bill as a part of national security legislation, Meta – The parent company of Facebook, threatened to stop its news-sharing service in the U.S.

The company alleges that the proposed legislation is aimed at helping news publishers negotiate deals with tech giants. It fears such precedents would lead to an arbitrary style of functioning to settle disputes and create a cartel-like entity that mandates one company to subsidize other private entities.

Thus, it warned through a tweet about removing news from its platform rather than submitting to government-mandated negotiations.

The move finds its resonance with News Media Bargaining Code, where organizations such as Google and Facebook were prompted to bargain with Australian news outlets to secure "fair payment" for the content shown on their platform. The government of Australia had argued that content from news publishers had value, but Google and Facebook weren't paying for it. As such, they should compensate news publishers to continue funding their operations.

It is believed, the United States' Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2022 have similar aims and use a language that nudges tech companies to negotiate with publishers. Meta claims that no company should be forced to pay for the content users don’t want to see, or that’s not a meaningful source of revenue.