US News Organizations could be barred from Facebook

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#USA, December 7, 2022 – Facebook parent company, Meta is threatening to block US news organizations from its sites after congress tabled a bill that would allow news organizations to have more bargaining power with the company over money made from their content.

The bill in question is the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act introduced to Congress last week. It makes provisions for a four-year safe harbor from antitrust laws (which bar some companies from owning daily newspapers and TV Stations and cross ownership).

During this time, print, broadcast, or digital news companies would be able to collectively negotiate with online content distributors including social media companies about the terms on which the news companies’ content may be distributed by online content distributors.

Meta describes the bill as ‘ill considered’ said if Congress passed it they would take immediate action.

“We will be forced to consider removing news from our platform altogether rather than submit to government-mandated negotiations that unfairly disregard any value we provide to news outlets through increased traffic and subscriptions,” The company said.

Meta says publishers and broadcasters put their content on Facebook unprompted because it brings them traffic and the company benefited little.  “No company should be forced to pay for content users don’t want to see and that’s not a meaningful source of revenue,” it said.

Pew Research says 47 per cent or nearly half of Facebook’s users regularly get news from the site.  The Act which has bi-partisan support has been tabled but not passed by congress, yet.