Google, Facebook ‘close’ to deals with Australian media

Google and Facebook are “very close” to deals with major Australian media to pay for news, a top government official said Monday, as the tech giants scramble to avoid landmark regulation.

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said talks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai had made “great progress” in resolving a standoff being closely watched around the world.

Australia is poised to adopt legislation that would force digital companies to pay for news content, something that would create a global precedent and, according to Facebook and Google, wreck the way the internet works.