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California lawmakers are working on the AB 886 bill. This obligates Big Tech companies like Google and Meta to pay a fee to news publishers for using their content. The bill can transform journalism in California, but it’s already facing setbacks from companies.
Publishers worldwide are raising their voices against free content usage by major platforms. The big social platforms consume the publisher’s content without paying anything. The news organizations claim this way of business is leading to their bankruptcy. They need to make money from their content to cover regular expenses. In response, tech companies argue that they’re sending viewers to the publisher’s website for free.
So far, the European Union could successfully force Google to settle with publishers in the continent. In another case, the Australian Parliament obligated Big Tech to pay $200 million to news publishers. Of course, objections are also there. Meta threatened to pull news from Facebook and Instagram in Canada if the country ever force them to pay publishers for consuming their content.
Meta and Google must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to news organizations in California if AB 886 bill passes
The AB 886 bill in California now aims to make Big Tech settle with news outlets in the state. The bill requires major social platforms to share their advertising revenue with the outlets they get the news from. The money goes into a pool, and each news outlet gets a fair share through arbitration.
The bill is supported by the Media Guild of the West and the Pacific Media Workers Guild, two major California newsroom unions. Other media organizations in the state would certainly support the bill as it drives new money to their business. The AB 886 bill goes for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on July 11, while it already passed Assembly with bipartisan support on June 1.
The news outlets that are eligible to get the fund must spend 70% of the money on newsroom jobs. This means no journalist will be laid off to cut costs, and new jobs might also be created. Additionally, the outlets must be transparent about how much funds they receive and how it’s spent.
As expected, Big Tech is not happy with AB 886 and similar bills. They argue that the bill could create a “slush fund” for big media enterprises outside of California and lead to a conflict of interest. The critics also claim the bill could tempt news outlets to promote “clickbait” stories to drive more traffic to their websites in order to make more money.
It remains to be seen how AB 886 takes effect in California and whether Big Tech agrees to pay a fair share to news outlets. However, news organizations in California are suffering from a lack of necessary funds to stay operational, and AB 886 could be a solution to it.
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