If Congress Passes A Media Bill, Meta May Remove News on Facebook

Facebook's parent firm, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), has threatened to delete content from its platform if the U.S. Congress approves a plan that would make it easier for news organizations to negotiate collectively with corporations like Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook.

Legislators are allegedly considering attaching the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act to a must-pass annual military measure in an effort to save the struggling local journalism industry. In a tweet, Andy Stone, a representative for Meta, stated that if the bill was passed, the company would be forced to consider eliminating news "rather than submit to government-mandated discussions that negate any value we bring to news sites through increased traffic and subscriptions."

The idea fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters place content on the platform because "it improves their bottom line - not the other way around."

The News Media Alliance, an association of newspaper publishers, says that the bill should be included in the defense bill "Local newspapers cannot afford to endure Big Tech's exploitation and abuse for several more years, and the time to take action is quickly running out. We run the possibility of social media becoming the de facto local newspaper in America if Congress does not act immediately."

More than two dozen organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Knowledge, and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, urged Congress on Monday not to approve the local news bill, arguing that it would "create an ill-advised antitrust exemption for publishers and broadcasters" and that it does not mandate that "funds gained through negotiation or arbitration will even be paid to journalists."

According to a government study, a similar Australian regulation that went into effect in March 2021 following discussions with major digital companies that resulted in a brief shutdown of Facebook news feeds in the country has been generally effective.

According to the article, since the News Media Bargaining Code went into effect, several technological giants, including Meta and Alphabet, have reached more than 30 agreements with media sites, compensating them for content that generated clicks and advertising revenue.