As the importance of the Internet in news dissemination grows, the need to properly compensate news content creators increases, Anadolu Ajansı reports.
While big tech companies, such as Google and Meta, have been criticised for profiting from news articles they don’t pay for, attempts to create a more equitable environment for news creators are increasingly being discussed amid the successive introduction of digital copyright regulations.
So far, Australia, the European Union and Canada have taken specific steps to regulate digital copyright.
In Australia, the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code came into force in March 2021. The law is designed to regulate the price of news content through negotiations between technology companies and media organisations.
The Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, enacted by the EU from June 2021, requires online platforms, such as Google and Facebook, to pay producers for shared content.
Canada adopted the Online News Law just this month to ensure that the institution sourcing the content is paid when the press is published by digital platforms.
Eleonora Rosati, a professor from Stockholm University’s Intellectual Property Law Department, stated that the directive obliges digital platforms to pay for the content they use, except for very short texts.
As for digital platforms profiting from the content of news producers, Rosati said the debate in the EU and Australia, where legal rules are being adopted on the issue, arises over ethics.
The professor claimed that the EU directive had begun to be implemented in almost all member states, adding that negotiations between internet service providers and news producers in countries like France and Italy were struggling to advance.
What happened in the EU has begun to be discussed in other parts of the world.
According to Rosati, content, such as news text and photos, is already protected by copyright, adding that efforts to defend digital copyright in countries like the EU and Australia are “additional measures that will probably continue to be discussed and reviewed by other governments in the world.”
She also commented on the problem of disinformation on social media platforms such as X:
“With the spread of disinformation on platforms like this, the importance of supporting those who can provide confirmed and reliable news has become clear.”
In Australia, which has played a pioneering role in digital news copyright, the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code aims to ensure that the public’s interest in journalism is preserved.
Under the law, digital platforms and news organisations are free to negotiate prices for content. If no agreement can be reached between the parties, an arbitration process is initiated to determine the amount of commission to be paid by the digital platform.
The EU Copyright Directive provides rules for content producers, rights holders, press publishers and journalists to ensure fairer remuneration when their work is used online.
Under the Act, digital platforms such as Google and Facebook can be held liable if they infringe copyright.
Canada’s Online News Act, known as C-18, requires major digital platforms to negotiate fairly with news companies over the content they want to use. Under the Act, parties may conclude a commercial agreement at their discretion, but if they cannot do so, they must come to the negotiating table through the Canadian Radio and Television Commission.
If an agreement cannot be reached through mediation, the parties submit their final proposals to an arbitration tribunal to choose.
