Azerbaijani gas to be delivered to Syria under new swap deal
Azerbaijan will begin supplying 6 million cubic metres of gas to Syria this week under a swap deal with Türkiye, officials said, aiming to boost elec...
Australia plans to charge Big Tech millions if they don’t pay local media for news, increasing pressure on platforms like Meta and Google to compensate publishers.
Australia's centre-left government said on Thursday it planned new rules that would charge big tech firms millions of dollars if they did not pay Australian media companies for news hosted on their platforms.
The move piles pressure on global tech giants such as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google to pay publishers for content or face the risk of paying millions to continue operations in Australia.
"The news bargaining initiative will ... will create a financial incentive for agreement-making between digital platforms and news media businesses in Australia," Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones told a press conference.
The platforms at risk will be significant social media platforms and search engines with an Australian-based revenue in excess of $250 million, he said.
The charge will be offset for any commercial agreements that are voluntarily entered into between the platforms and news media businesses, Jones added.
Tech companies condemned the plan.
"The proposal fails to account for the realities of how our platforms work, specifically that most people don't come to our platforms for news content and that news publishers voluntarily choose to post content on our platforms because they receive value from doing so," a Meta spokesman said after Jones' remarks.
The proposed new rules come as Australia toughens its approach to the mostly US-domiciled tech giants, after becoming last month the first country to ban children under the age of 16 from social media.
That move is seen as setting a benchmark for other governments' handling of Big Tech.
Canberra also plans to threaten the companies with fines for failing to stamp out scams.
Google, ByteDance through TikTok, and Meta through its various platforms would fall within the scope of the charges under the new rules. However X, formerly Twitter, would not be covered, Jones said.
BLOCKING NEWS
In 2021, Australia passed laws to make the U.S. tech giants, such as Google and Meta, compensate media companies for the links that lure readers and advertising revenue.
After the move Meta briefly blocked users from reposting news articles, but later struck deals with several Australian media firms, such as News Corp and national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corp.
It has said since it will not renew those arrangements beyond 2024.
Meta, which also owns Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, has been scaling back its promotion of news and political content globally to drive traffic and says news links are now a fraction of users' feeds.
This year it said it would discontinue the news tab on Facebook in Australia and the United States, adding that it had cancelled the tab last year in Britain, France and Germany.
In 2023, Meta blocked users in Canada from reposting news content after its government took similar action.
Australia news organisations, including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, are expected to benefit from the new rules.
Following Jones' announcement, News Corp Australia Executive Chairman Michael Miller said he would contact Meta and TikTok immediately to seek a commercial relationship with News Corp Australia.
"I believe news publishers and the tech platforms should have relationships that benefit both parties on commercial and broader terms," he said in a statement.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
Australian researchers have created a groundbreaking “biological AI” platform that could revolutionise drug discovery by rapidly evolving molecules within mammalian cells.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A series of earthquakes have struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, leading authorities to advise residents to evacuate from buildings as a precaution against possible aftershocks.
'Superman' continued to dominate the summer box office, pulling in another $57.25 million in its second weekend, as theatres welcome a wave of blockbuster competition following a challenging few years for the film industry.
Azerbaijan will begin supplying 6 million cubic metres of gas to Syria this week under a swap deal with Türkiye, officials said, aiming to boost electricity generation in the war-torn country.
Kazakhstan has once again come into the geopolitical spotlight, this time with American interests front and center.
Thailand has accused Cambodian forces of opening fire across the disputed frontier on Wednesday, the second reported violation since a Malaysia-brokered truce took effect at midnight on Monday.
At just 17 years old, Lamine Yamal is not only rewriting football’s record books, he’s rewriting what’s possible. From dazzling defences with Barcelona to setting records on the biggest international stages, this teenage phenomenon is already one of the most talked-about names in the sport.
Behind closed doors or at public summits, diplomacy quietly shapes our world. It’s more than handshakes, it’s about negotiation, persuasion, and preventing conflict. But how does diplomacy actually work, and what tools keep nations talking instead of fighting?
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment