How tech giants may need to finally pay for news content

Thursday, 8 February 2024

News publishers will next week argue their case for the Government to keep working on a law that would force internet giants like Google and Facebook to pay for news.

The Government is mulling on whether it should progress the Digital News Bargaining Bill, a piece of legislation which could assist New Zealand newsmakers in securing potentially tens of millions of dollars from social media companies, search engines, and AI generators.

Media Minister Melissa Lee has given the green light to Parliament’s clerks for the Digital News Bargaining Bill to be reviewed in a select committee, although she is not committing to the bill just yet.

The bill is popular with news publishers, who say it would help fund local news - without the need for taxpayer funding.

The bill originated with former broadcasting minister Willie Jackson, but did not pass into law before the election. It was one of many bills left half-cooked, awaiting scrutiny in Parliament before becoming law.

Lee has been vocal with concerns about the bill, questioning how a fair price could be set for the news content consumed on social media, search engines, and in AI processors, but created by news companies.

While in Opposition, she told Stuff she didn’t see what good would come from “forcing people to negotiate”.

But she did agree with the idea that if a company was making money from someone else’s content, then the content creator should be able to get some reimbursement.

Since becoming minister, Lee said it was worth considering the bill further. Once the select committee has reported back, she said she would consider whether the Government should support the bill.

And so on Thursday, news organisations will arrive at Parliament to plead their case in front of a select committee.

The case for a digital news bargaining bill

News Publishers Association corporate affairs director Andrew Holden would be prosecuting the news organisations’ case next week, with a 10-minute slot to convince MPs this was a bill worth pursing.

The NPA, a group representing competing new companies, hired the former Christchurch Press and the Melbourne Age editor late last year with the hope he could secure news deals with the tech giants.

Similar laws have been passed in Australia and Canada. Across the Tasman, the deals struck with the internet’s multinationals were expected to bring $200 million annually to and Australia’s news organisations.

“That’s equivalent to about 20% of the of the revenue of media companies there. If you got that here in New Zealand, that's a very significant boost and it absolutely reduces any need for companies to go cap in hand to the Government,” Holden.

The argument for forcing digital platforms to cut deals with news companies was that many platforms were capitalising from news sourced for free, and also hoovering up a growing chunk of advertising revenue - which traditionally funded news.

The advent of artificial intelligence had also caused concern for news organisations.

In the US, the New York Times is suing Chat GPT maker Open AI claiming copyright infringement. Chat GPT, like many AI language processors, consumes large quantities of news writing.

Holden said the draft bill should make explicit reference to AI.

“The kind of legal action the New York Times is taking is hugely expensive,” he said.

“The likes of the Westport News, Ashburton Guardian or Gisborne Herald simply don't have the financial wherewithal to take an action like a copyright suit against a major company.”

NPA president and Stuff owner Sinead Boucher said she hoped the select committee would support the bill, and recommend slight changes to “future proof” it ahead of an expected AI revolution of search engines, social and news media.

Is the bill likely to get support?

In coalition agreements between ACT, National and NZ First, media policy was not listed as a priority.

However, each party had media spokespeople who followed debate on digital news.

“We certainly know from election policies that ACT, for example, is in support of media, as is New Zealand First. What they're not interested in, obviously, is government subsidies to support news media,” Holden said.

“If this legislation goes through, we have the kind of negotiations we will ask them for with big tech, then any need for government subsidies should be drastically reduced.”

He said initial conversations with the minister indicated the door was open.