Facebook threatens to remove all news content if bill forcing payments to local media outlets passes

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Meta/Facebook is threatening to remove all local news from its platform following reports that proposed legislation to force Big Tech to pay publishers for news content is being added to a defense bill in a bid to win approval during the lame-duck Congress session.

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act made it through the Senate Judiciary Committee in September but is running out of time to pass before the end of the year, when the House will flip to Republican control. Including it in the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual “must-pass” bill, is seen as a strategy for getting it done before the new Congress convenes in January.

The legislative maneuver generated criticism Monday from Meta/Facebook, which issued a statement in opposition to the journalism act and its potential pairing with the defense act. The text of the defense bill had not been released as of Tuesday afternoon, but a source familiar with the matter told the Tribune that lawmakers are considering adding the journalism measure to the legislation.

“If Congress passes an ill-considered journalism bill as part of national security legislation, 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,” Meta/Facebook said in its statement, which was posted on Twitter.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/facebook-threatens-remove-news-content-200400763.html

Plagiarism is not a value. Many small local papers are in financial trouble. Meta can certainly afford to compensate these publications for articles it reprints.

[msongs]

1. should DU be forced to pay for all the news stuff that is posted here? nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. We aren't allowed to post the whole article

Facebook does.

Major difference.

[msongs]

3. there are many videos show here from news "sources" nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

7. Which are already available on YouTube and Twitter

The proposed law has to do with small town newspapers.

[usonian]

4. I think it's dead in the water for now

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/06/ndaa-jcpa-newspapers-fail/
Congress drops media bargaining bill amid Facebook, industry blowback
Facebook threatened to block news in the U.S. over the measure, which was under consideration as part of a defense package
December 6, 2022 at 10:33 p.m. EST

Lawmakers on Tuesday ended what had been an effort to allow media organizations to band together to negotiate revenue sharing deals with tech giants, leaving the provisions out of a massive spending bill amid intense pushback from industry and advocacy groups.

The measure, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), was omitted from a bicameral agreement on Congress’s sprawling defense-spending legislation, according to the bill’s text released late Tuesday. The JCPA provisions had been considered for potential inclusion, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

The proposal would have created a temporary carve-out in antitrust law allowing news publishers and broadcasters to collectively push for more favorable distribution terms for their content online.

[NoRethugFriends]

5. People not being able to get news from FB is not much of a loss

[chriscan64]

6. If they remove local news content

I will miss out on .005% of my feed.

[summer_in_TX]

8. Public library and free speech and press orgs

opposed the Journalism Competition and Protection Act (JCPA).

The hedge funds snapping up media properties and Big Media conglomerates could form a cartel to squeeze out medium and small-sized newspapers.

Linking to news articles would no longer be free, but that could incentivize linking to the most scurrilous information that did not meet journalistic standards, making the spread of disinformation even more likely.

Democrats like Amy Klobuchar worked hard to craft a solution to the problem of social media not paying for content. But this doesn't solve the problem of news deserts and probably will add to that problem. Plus there are better proposed solutions.