Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: Meta Platforms Inc has threatened to remove news from Facebook if the US Congress passed a proposed bill, making it easier for news outlets and newspapers to negotiate with tech companies like Google and Facebook for payment for the published content.
US lawmakers are considering incorporating the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” into a must-pass annual defence bill to salvage the struggling local media industry.
Meta Inc spokesperson:
Meta Inc spokesperson Andy Stone said in a tweet that the tech company would be forced to consider removing news from the platform if the proposed bill is passed.
The Meta Inc spokesperson said that the company would not submit to government-mandated negotiations that unfairly disregard the value they provide to news outlets through enhanced traffic and subscriptions.
He said that the proposed bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters put content on Facebook because it benefited their bottom line and not the other way around.
The News Media Alliance, a group representing newspaper publishers, say that local newspaper papers could not afford to endure more years of alleged use and abuse of big tech, and the time to take action was running out. The group argues that tf the US Congress did not act promptly, they risk allowing social media to become de facto local newspapers of America.
