US bipartisan invoice may empower information shops to tackle Massive Tech | Authorities Information

An antitrust law would allow smaller news agencies to negotiate jointly with Facebook and Google, reports Reuters.

Members of the US Congress of both parties plan to propose a bill in the coming weeks to make it easier for smaller news organizations to negotiate with big tech platforms, Representative Ken Buck, Republican chief on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust committee, told Reuters News Agency .

The US bill would come at a time when Australia is in a heated battle with Facebook. The social media giant blocked newsfeeds and other sites – including those from charities and health and emergency services – in a dispute over a proposed law that would require Google and Google to pay news outlets whose links direct traffic to their platforms , or agree a price through arbitration.

Buck, who was named a ranking member this month, told Reuters on Thursday that the panel would be bringing out a number of antitrust laws, the first of which would enable smaller news organizations to join forces with Facebook and Alphabet Inc. in the coming weeks negotiate google.

Social media companies use news to attract customers and have been accused by news publishers of not sharing enough advertising revenue with them. Legislation could boost sales in troubled news business.

While Facebook has battled publishers, Google has contracts with them in France, Australia and other countries.

Google announced this week that it has agreed to a global deal with News Corp that will include “substantial payments” to the news organization as part of one of the largest deals of its kind.

Smaller publishers using Google’s ad sales technology have struggled for years with their bigger competitors getting cheaper revenue-sharing offers from the search giant.

According to news from the Pew Research Center, the news industry is undeniably in trouble, as U.S. newspaper employment has halved since 2008 as advertising revenue has fallen and media habits have changed.

Buck said the expected legislation would be similar to a 2019 bill sponsored by the panel’s chairman David Cicilline that would have allowed small publishers to join forces to negotiate with big gatekeepers like Facebook and Google without engaging in antitrust law To put exam.

This bill stipulates that only small publishers can use group negotiations.

The Facebook, Google and Cicilline office did not respond to requests for comments after work hours.

“Publishers have had the experience of platforms going to them one by one and getting them to sign NDAs [non-disclosure agreements] and try to optimize per publisher without publishers being able to compare notes, ”said David Chavern, president and chief executive officer of News Media Alliance, an industry group promoting the bill.

“Large national publishers likely have the ability to do their own business,” said David Chavern. “When you look at smaller publishers, the only way to get fair value is if they work together.”

In October, the Antitrust Subcommittee’s majority report reported detailed abuses by technology giants like Google and Facebook. In his own report, Buck and three Republicans expressed an interest in making some changes to antitrust law to strengthen enforcers.

Buck said he wanted the focus to continue on the tech giants. “The biggest threat to the market economy is big tech [potential legislation] should focus pretty much on that, ”he said.