Australia asks Facebook, Google to share revenue generated from news

Australia’s government has ordered Facebook and Alphabet’s Google to share revenue generated from news articles, adding to growing global regulatory and political pushback against the digital giants.

The two companies will have to negotiate with traditional media on remuneration in good faith, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Friday. If no agreement is reached, there will be a binding arbitration process and penalties for breaching the code of up to A$10 million ($7 million) or 10 per cent of local revenue.

The move aims to correct what the government says is a power imbalance between two of the world’s most profitable companies and a local media industry that’s bleeding jobs as it loses advertising revenue to digital platforms. It follows measures elsewhere in the world, including in France where antitrust regulator in April ordered Google to pay media companies to display snippets of articles.