Facebook should be compelled to identify trusted sources of Australian news and be more transparent about what it chooses to appear in its news feed, TV broadcasters have told the competition watchdog’s inquiry into digital platforms.
The free-to-air TV industry has also asked for tax breaks for Australian news producers – a “news production tax offset” – and a new regime to ensure Facebook and Google are accountable for paying local content producers a fair rate of advertising revenue.
In December the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission floated the possibility of a new body which would have the power to require information on how Facebook and Google’s algorithms work, a so-called algorithm regulator.
The algorithm regulator would allow the watchdog to see how Google and Facebook’s machine-driven formulas rank content and determine what users will see first. Free TV wants more transparency around how Google in particular ranks content and pays advertising revenue to Australian media companies.
But Facebook has rejected any such control over its platform, saying the ACCC recommendation is a “striking” intervention which is not supported by evidence.
“The ACCC has not made a case or provided any evidence for why they believe an algorithm regulator is a necessary, effective and proportionate response to the business model challenges facing news media,” Facebook’s vice president of Australian policy, Simon Milner, said in a blog post on Monday.
“Instead it has floated a number of possible tax incentives for media companies who conduct certain types of public interest journalism.
“More importantly, people, not regulators, should decide what they see in their news feeds.”
When the ACCC chairman, Rod Sims, released the commission’s preliminary report in December, he said journalism was a public good and the powerful digital platforms had transformed the way consumers accessed news.
Sims said again last week the production of news and journalism could not be left entirely to market forces, and regulation was needed to curb the power of Facebook and Google.
His preliminary report flagged some of Free TV’s suggestions, including the idea of requiring digital platforms to indicate whether news had come from a company that has signed up to codes of conduct, and to make participation mandatory for all digital platforms.
The chief executive of Free TV, which represents Nine, Seven and Ten, Bridget Fair, said in a submission on Monday it was time to regulate the digital monopolies in the same way Australian media companies are regulated.
“The ACCC’s report is also very clear on the importance of Australian news content to the digital platforms,” Fair said. “But not only is it important to them, it’s crucial to our democracy that local media businesses can keep investing in the full range of premium Australian content.
“That’s why we also welcome the additional financial support measures discussed in the ACCC’s preliminary report.
“In particular, we are calling on the government to immediately adopt a tax offset for expenditure related to the production of journalistic content, such has been recently announced in Canada.”
Free TV also called for the abolition of “outdated” broadcasting regulations such as election blackout periods and children’s content quotas and the quick removal of content which breached copyright.
“The ACCC has also belled the cat on the regulatory disparity between media companies and the digital platforms,” Fair said. “While we would be a willing participant in yet another review process, as recommended by the ACCC, there are a number of areas where the case for reform is obvious.
“You don’t need another review to tell you that an election blackout period, which doesn’t apply online, no longer makes sense. Or that outdated Australian content rules from the 1980s are well overdue for change.”
