it was introduced after australia Discover competition regulators Bargaining power imbalance between media companies and digital platforms.
Its launch has prompted multimillion-dollar deals between digital giants and media companies, including the masthead’s owner Nine Entertainment, News Corp Australia, Australian with herald sunABC and Guardian Australia.
Local legislative efforts have also gained international recognition and led to similar regulations in markets such as Canada and New Zealand.
If passed, the JCPA would allow small and local news outlets to negotiate payments for their content with tech giants. Unlike Australian law, the JCPA is tailored for small publishers and has a “staff cap” that excludes large newspaper publishers from the act. It is not supported by major news outlets.
Attempts to pass legislation during the “lame-duck” period after the November elections and before the start of a new Congress on Jan. 3 stalled last week after the JCPA was removed as a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act because it was incompatible with the National security is irrelevant. Passing the bill will be difficult in a new, divided Congress.
If Congress finds another way to pass the laws, they will be another example of a country trying to balance market forces, Coffey said.
“Similar to the EU’s Copyright Directive, which laid the groundwork for global efforts to require online platforms to compensate publishers, and the Australian News Media Bargaining Code, which establishes a robust, competition-law-based mechanism, we hope the JCPA will give further impetus to efforts in other countries. Through similar measures,” Coffey said.
“The more countries that take steps to ensure that publishers are fairly compensated, the harder it will be for platforms to circumvent these laws and continue their current anti-competitive practices.”
The Business Briefing newsletter features breaking stories, scoops and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
