Facebook has already released a statement regarding the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which will require platforms to pay publishers for their content. Meta's Head of Policy and Communications, Andy Stone, expressed on Twitter that they will be forced to remove news altogether if the bill is passed.
Meta's Statement
The statement says that Meta would rather remove the news on the platform altogether rather than submit to negotiations required by law, which disregards what they provide to news outlets through increased traffic and subscriptions. It was also pointed out that media practitioners put their content on Facebook because it benefits the bottom line and that the Act failed to see that.
The post went on and expressed that no one should be forced to pay for content that users don't want to see. They added that it was also not a good source of revenue. They concluded the statement by likening the payment of a private company to other private entities, to a cartel, and that it was a terrible precedent for American businesses.
Meta statement on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act: pic.twitter.com/kyFqKQw7xs
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) December 5, 2022
26 other organizations already advocated against the bill, which includes Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Vox Media. Facebook is not the only one who believes that the Act shouldn't be passed as a law. They expressed their disapproval by sending a letter to the lawmakers.
Read Also : Meta Sued Over Privacy Concerns, Accused of Bypassing Apple's App Tracking Transparency Feature
A Sore Spot for Facebook
So far, the Senate Judiciary Committee yielded a 15 to seven vote, which passed the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. However, it needs to pass through the Senate first before it reaches the president, which it hasn't yet.
The social media platform doesn't hide that it's against proposed laws with the same premise. Back in February, Facebook encountered a similar issue with Australia. Facebook responded by removing the pages that belonged to the country's government agencies. This may have been the reason behind the amendment of the law.
It also became a case with Canada, where the Online News Act was written. It accused Facebook of benefiting unfairly from its relationship with publishers, as mentioned by The Verge. The proposed solution by Meta, should the Act become law, was also to refrain from posting news in the country.
Meta claimed that it was actually the news outlets that benefited from the platform, as they put their stories on Facebook. The parent company stated that Canada's registered publishers achieved 1.9 billion clicks in 12 months, which made them earn an estimated $230 million CAD in value.
Google was also against the Act in Canada, stating that they already benefit from the traffic that Google provides. They also added that it would be harder for Canadian readers to find and share trusted and credible news online.
Facebook has already proven that it would go to great lengths to avoid a situation wherein they have to pay for content that already gets exposure via the platform. As of writing, Facebook has not yet taken any steps aside from releasing a statement against the US Act.
