Tech giants vs Australian government

  • The Australian government plans to bring a new code that would force Google and Facebook Inc to pay media companies for the right to use their content.
  • In reaction, Google has threatened to remove its search engine from Australia. 
  • Facebook said it could block Australian users from posting or sharing news links if the proposed norms on royalty payments were put into operation.

AUSTRALIA'S NEW CODE

  • Australia’s new proposed ‘News Media Bargaining Code’ would require Google and Facebook to negotiate with local news organizations for content. 
  • There will be a government-appointed arbitrator making decisions, if an agreement cannot be made.
  • The code has been designed to help the struggling local media industry, that has accused large platforms of benefiting from its work without paying for it. 
  • It was developed by Australia’s competition watchdog, the ACCC, after talks broke down between the local media and the multi-national tech companies.
  • If passed in the Parliament, the new law would force the likes of Google and Facebook to negotiate and share revenue they make from news content, with the publishers.

WHAT IS THE ISSUE?

  • Google agreed to pay French publishers for their news after the country’s competition regulator issued a ruling requiring it to do so last year.
  • Hence, paying for news feed in itself appears to be less of an issue for the tech giants.
  • The fight in Australia is evidently centred on how much control these companies would be able to retain on their payout process.
  • The issue is of operational aspects such as deciding the quantum of payments for news feed sources, and having to reveal changes in their algorithms. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamas V. PLO

The irony in the ongoing conflict is that Hamas, whose founding members were encouraged by Israel in the 1970s and 80s against Yasser Arafat’s secular national movement, has turned out to be Israel’s biggest rival in the Palestinian territories. HAMAS Hamas was established after the first intifada broke out in 1987, as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.  Intifada was the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.  The first intifada lasted from 1987 to 1993, and the second began in 2000. As strife between Israel and Palestine continued to soar as the latter resorted to the First Intifada, or uprising, in December 1987, Hamas as an organisation led by Sunni-Islamic fundamentalists, began to take shape.  Hamas could gain immediate and immense popularity within the protesting Palestinians because it was ...
Read more

G7 global corporate Tax Deal

Image
The Group of Seven (G7) countries have backed the proposal to impose a common global corporate tax. It would be aimed at preventing multinational businesses from evading taxes and also squeeze the havens which attract tax evaders due to the low-rate jurisdictions.  The consensus to adopt a common tax rate was reached at the G7 finance ministers' meeting held in Buckingham (London) on June 5.  THE PROPOSAL The tax proposal endorsed by the US, the UK, France and other G7 countries has two parts.  The main part of the proposal states that countries around the world should tax their home companies' overseas profits at a rate of at least 15%.  The companies have multiple branches spread across various jurisdictions, they transfer the bulk of their profit in accounts set up in countries that offer the lowest tax rate.  Often, these tax havens are the Caribbean Islands such as Bahamas or British Virgin Islands, or at times, countries like Ireland where the corp...
Read more

The statue of Swami Vivekananda at the JNU campus

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually unveiled a life-sized statue of Swami Vivekananda at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on November 12. JNUSU (JNU students' union), un response, planned to protest on campus.  They believe the Modi government “openly supported” violence on campuses and is attacking universities with the National Education Policy which will result in fund cuts and privatization of education. FUNDING CONTROVERSY It was on June 30, 2017 that JNU’s Executive Council (EC) first gave approval for the statue.  The administration said it was installing the statue to give the campus a more “pleasing look” as Vivekananda had contributed to “nation building”. The administration remained mum on who was funding the statue and how much it would cost.  Then JNU Students’ Union president N Sai Balaji filed several RTIs to know about the funding. In January 2018, he filed an RTI seeking the total cost of construction of the statue as well as the sour...
Read more