👉 Background: In 2021, after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and panicking, a news media bargaining code was legislated, which forced Big tech to make payments to news publishers.

👉 What happened: However, the code does not actually apply to Google or Meta. That’s because they amended it so that they weren't “designated” in the code.

👉 What else: In exchange, they struck quasi-voluntary deals were struck outside of the code with companies like Nine Entertainment Co, News Corp Australia and the ABC. But after 2 years, and the legislation is back up for review. And Meta and Google say they won’t play nice this time.

What's the key learning?

💡Welcome to the clash of the titans: governments vs Big tech. The Australian government is walking on a tightrope with big tech companies who have wads of cash… that they are holding veeeery tightly.

💡 If the government pushes the legislation too hard, big tech will not only withdraw from these deals, but will also remove news from their sites. And these deals are worth a lot to publishers:

• Nine’s deal with Meta and Google was believed to be worth between $40 million - $60 million per year.
• Seven West Media’s deal with them was believed to be worth about $30 million
• And the ABC’s deals were believed to be worth about $12 million a year
  

💡 But if they don’t push hard enough, thousands of journalism jobs, which had been partially funded by these agreements, could be lost.

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