California legislators recently took to social media and technology platforms to write:Payment of journalism usage fee” to the services of digital journalism providers. It focuses specifically on local news outlets in California. Essentially, as described, NPRwhich would “tax the advertising revenues the platform derives from the distribution of news articles,” a move Meta is not very happy about and may be happy to block.
“Journalism plays an important role every day in California and in our communities, and we are committed to ensuring that local news outlets continue to provide the public with important information about their communities and that publishers receive a fair market value for the content they consume. “Other agencies will maintain a local and diverse press and ensure sustainability,” the bill says.
Not only is Meta unhappy with the decision, it has also announced that it will remove the news outlet from its California site if the bill is passed.recently The bill passed the state legislature by a vote of 46 to 6.However, it would need to be approved by the state Senate and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom to become law.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone issued a statement on Twitter regarding the California Anti-Journalism Act. “If the Protect Journalism Act is passed, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram rather than fund a slush fund that primarily benefits us,” said a California publisher. It attacked a major media company out of state under the guise of supporting it,” the statement read.
When NPR asked Stone how the law would force Meta to distribute news stories, Stone replied, “You either pay or take the news down. Our hands are forced. there is.”
The bill would affect platforms such as Facebook and Instagram that have at least 50 million monthly active users or subscribers in the United States. Or controlled or owned by someone with annual net sales or market capitalization of his 550 billion, but also controlled or owned by someone with his billion users worldwide on the platform .
The meta may not be completely messed with either. just this morning, financial times Meta reportedly blocked the ability of some Canadian users to search for news on its platform in a bid to push back a government bill that would force online groups to pay publishers and platforms to publish their content.
As we wait and see what happens with the Senate vote, we can only hope that good things and more profitable things happen for our local newsroom. And no matter what the outcome, this may finally be the wake-up call you need to subscribe to your local newspaper.
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