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| The United States attacks Australia because of Facebook and Google |
The United States is demanding that Australia drop its media bill, which will force tech giants Google and Facebook to pay news outlets to distribute their content.
The United States, in a statement it submitted to the Australian Congress, stated that the proposed legislation is unreasonable, unrealistic, unbalanced, and may conflict with the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Media laws impose mandatory codes of conduct for digital platforms that allow Australian media to negotiate face-to-face and collectively to determine payment methods for publishing news content on Google and Facebook.
When America's media and technology giants cannot agree on a fair price, the law allows the arbitrator to make the final decision, and also requires the media to be provided 14 days before the algorithm affects their activities.
The law was introduced to Parliament in December and is currently under consideration by a Senate committee.
The US sales representative office said in a report to the committee: The bill may have negative consequences.
He called on the Australian government to delay the proposal because direct market intervention to distribute advertising revenue was an exception. This is an important step that must be carefully studied and proven.
The Office of the United States Trade Agent said, from the United States' point of view, it is best to conduct more market research and consulting to identify specific market failures that can be addressed first by voluntary schemes.
He added: If the Code is clearly ineffective, then many options can be assessed and evidence presented to support or reject proposals put in place through the regulatory processes in which Australian stakeholders can participate.
The office of the US Trade Representative said: We will ask Australia to reconsider whether legislation is needed.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was initially required to draft a voluntary act. After a sharp drop in advertising revenue and the closure of many regional newspapers in April, the code became mandatory in April 2020.
The United States is concerned that the bill gives the Competent Minister broad discretion to name a technology company with overly binding and cumbersome laws and does not indicate a violation of current Australian law or market failure.
The statement stressed that the legislation specifically targets two US companies and urged the US government to verify that the arbitrators ’agreement to set fair prices fully complies with Article 20.5 of the Free Trade Agreement of Law between Australia and Australia. United States of America.
The United States said the bill does not allow for collective bargaining, a measure that allows young media participants to come together, which is inappropriate because it departs from generally accepted principles of competition.