Google and Facebook are “very close” to agreements with major Australian media to pay for the news, a senior government official said on Monday, while technology giants are fighting to avoid benchmark regulation, according to AFP.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said talks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai had made “great strides” in resolving a clash that is being watched around the world. reported the news agency. Australia is ready to pass legislation that would force digital companies to pay for news content, which would set a global precedent and, according to Facebook and Google, destroy the way the Internet works.
Companies have been partially threatened withdraw services of the country if the rules become law, provoking a war of words with government officials in Canberra. But that disagreement seemed to be alleviated on Monday, while Frydenberg told Australian public broadcaster ABC that talks with companies “made great strides over the weekend.”
Seven West Media has become the largest Australian media business to reach an agreement with Google to pay for journalism. Google and the publicly quoted TV, print and online publishing company announced their collaboration a day before Parliament is due to draft laws that would force the digital giant and Facebook to pay for Australian news.
The announcement also follows weekend discussions between Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google.
– Associated Press contributed to this report.