Australia to make Google, FB pay for news as ad revenue collapses due to Covid-19

CANBERRA : Global digital platforms Google and Facebook will be forced to pay for news content in Australia, the government said on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic causes a collapse in advertising revenue.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, known as ACCC, would release in late July draft rules for the platforms to pay fair compensation for the journalistic content siphoned from news media.

Frydenberg said he believed that Australia could succeed where other countries, including France and Spain, had failed in making Google and Facebook pay.