MOSCOW: Facebook has signed a multi-year content deal with one of Australia’s largest media companies, News Corp, to be able to use its materials on its own platforms following the introduction of media bargaining laws in Australia, Sputnik quoted a News Corp press release.
“News Corp announced today that it has reached a multi-year agreement to provide access to trusted news and information to millions of Facebook users in Australia through its Facebook News product,” the press release read.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp includes The Australian national newspaper, the news.com.au news site, major metropolitan mastheads like The Daily Telegraph in New South Wales, Herald Sun in Victoria, and The Courier-Mail in Queensland, as well as regional and community publications.
“The agreement with Facebook is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses. Mark Zuckerberg and his team deserve credit for their role in helping to fashion a future for journalism, which has been under extreme duress for more than a decade,” News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson said as quoted in the press release.
According to media reports, another Australian media giant, Nine Entertainment Co, the owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, has also struck a content deal with Facebook for use of its news articles.
The deals come as a major breakthrough after months of tense negotiations over Facebook’s clause that allowed it to break off agreements at will.
The agreements prescribe that the US social media giant will pay for the use of content in its soon-to-launch News and Facebook Watch products. This way, Facebook users will get access to the media companies’ premium content and videos.
Other outlets, including Guardian Australia and the ABC, are still reportedly negotiating financial details of their deals with Facebook.
The new media code came into force in Australia in late February. Under the so-called bargaining law, internet platforms are obligated to pay media companies for news. In response, Facebook blocked some Australian news sites and stopped Australian users from sharing or posting news links.
The situation was resolved when the Australian government removed the forced arbitration part. Under the amendment, the code cannot be enforced against tech giants providing they can prove that they have struck enough commercial deals with publishers. – Bernama
