Global diversified media and information service company News Corp and social media giant Facebook have reached pay deals for news in Australia, three weeks after the government passed legislation requiring all digital companies to support the cost of journalism in the country.
The New York-based news company, which primarily operates in the US, Britain, and Australia revealed that it had reached a multi-year agreement with Facebook which covers its major Australian titles as well as regional publications.
Google had completed a similar deal with News Corp last month.
According to a News Corp, Sky News Australia, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, has also reached a new agreement that extends and builds on an existing Facebook agreement. The deal follows a 2019 agreement in which News Corp US publications were paid for access to articles on Facebook News.
News Corp Chief Executive Mr. Robert Thomson remarked that “the agreement with Facebook is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses.”
Meanwhile Mr. Andrew Hunter Head of Facebook News Partnerships in Australia and New Zealand said that the agreements with News Corp Australia and Sky News Australia “mean that people on Facebook will gain access to premium news articles and breaking news video from News Corp’s network of national, metropolitan, rural and suburban newsrooms.”
Mr. Thomson lauded the Australian government for “taking a principled stand for publishers” by enacting legislation that could require Facebook and Google to pay for news content viewed via their sites if the two internet gateways fail to reach a reasonable agreement.
News Corp now has paid agreement with Facebook, Google, and Apple to provide access to its content.
As the digital platform laws worked their way through the parliamentary process, Google was faster than Facebook in inking deals with Australian news businesses.
The only other major Australian media company to announce a pay deal with Facebook is Seven West Media.
A day after the laws were passed by Parliament last month, Facebook had announced preliminary pay agreements with independent news organizations Private Media, Schwartz Media, and Solstice Media.
