Law requiring Big Tech to pay for news passes in California

The bill would require companies like Google and Meta to share advertising revenue with California news and media organizations for news and content published on those platforms. The amount would be determined through an arbitration process.

Bill to make big tech pay for news passes California House of Representatives — Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks celebrates after the bill passed the California House of Representatives on June 1, 2023. Photo: AP

One notable detail is that the bill would require that at least 70% of the revenue that news and media organizations share with Big Tech must go toward paying journalists, with only the remaining 30% used for other purposes.

In general, such payments would help local media organizations stay afloat after many saw their advertising revenue plummet in the recent digital and social media era, said the bill’s author, Democratic Rep. Buffy Wicks, who added that California has lost more than 100 news organizations in the past decade.

“The California Journalism Preservation Act won’t save journalism, but it will provide support to news organizations and journalists at a time when the stakes couldn’t be higher,” Wicks said Thursday.

The bill is backed by major journalism unions like the News Media Alliance and the Media Guild of the West, which represents The Los Angeles Times and other newsrooms. The California Labor Federation joined in supporting the bill, saying it would protect journalism jobs by “leveling the playing field between news publishers and social media platforms.”

Shortly before the bill passed, Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — threatened to pull all news content from its platform if it passed. The tech giant has made similar threats to the US Congress in 2022 and the Canadian government this year when lawmakers there attempted similar measures to boost local journalism.

“The bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters self-publish their content on our platforms and that significant collaboration in California’s local news industry has been taking place for more than 15 years… It is disappointing that California lawmakers appear to be prioritizing the best interests of national and international media companies over their own constituents,” Meta argued.

However, Rep. Wicks called Meta's statement "a senseless threat," noting that "these are companies that have made billions and billions of dollars while our newsrooms are closed across the state of California."

Google has yet to respond to the bill's passage, but has threatened to pull content from its search platform in California, just as it has experimented with blocking Canadian news links from search results for users in that country.

Hoang Hai (according to Meta, AP)

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