Australian billionaire to help small publishers strike content deals with Google, Facebook

Sydney: Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s philanthropic organisation will help 18 small news publishers in the country collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook to secure licensing deals for the supply of news content.

Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation on Monday said it would submit an application with the country’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), allowing the publishers to bargain without breaching competition laws.