Australia to make Google and Facebook pay for news

Australia's government will reveal legislation in Parliament on Wednesday that would make Facebook and Google pay for journalism.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Tuesday that the legislation to create the News Media Bargaining Code will be scrutinised by a parliamentary committee following its introduction and before lawmakers vote on it next year.

"This is a huge reform, this is a world first. And the world is watching what happens here in Australia," Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra.

"This is comprehensive legislation that has gone further than any comparable jurisdiction in the world," he added.

The legislation differs from draft proposals that were released in July after consultations with the social media platforms as well as Australian media organisations.

The government had initially planned to exclude state-owned media, Australian Broadcasting Corp. and the Special Broadcasting Service, from being compensated by the tech giants for their journalism.

Frydenberg said those broadcasters would be paid under the latest draft legislation like commercial media businesses.

Facebook has warned it might block Australian news content rather than pay for it.

Google has said the proposed laws would result in "dramatically worse Google Search and YouTube," put free services at risk and could lead to users' data "being handed over to big news businesses."

Frydenberg said Google was taking 53% of online advertising dollars and Facebook took a 23% share.

Neither Facebook nor Google immediately responded to a request for comment on Tuesday.

The conservative government might need the support of the centre-left opposition Labor Party to get the legislation through the Senate, where no party or coalition holds a majority of seats.

The legislation would create an arbitrator to address the bargaining imbalance between the tech giants and news businesses.

If a platform and a news outlet can't reach an agreement on price, an arbitrator would be appointed to make a binding decision.

Spain and France and have both failed to make Facebook and Google pay for news through copyright law.