New Delhi, March 22 (MExN): The Union Government has no proposal enact a law on the lines of Australian media code, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Prakash Javadekar informed on March 22.
“Presently there is no such proposal for enactment of a law by the Government in this regard,” the Minister stated in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha enquiring whether the Government would consider enacting a “law on the lines of Australian law to protect news industry in India.”
Further citing media reports, he noted that “news publishers, etc. have requested Google to pay to newspapers and for having a level playing field between global tech companies and traditional media/ news organizations.”
Javadekar also informed that the Australian Parliament in February 2021 has enacted a law called the News Media and Digital Platform Mandatory Bargaining Code, “requiring global digital companies to pay for local news contents.”
Among others, the Code “creates a framework for registered news business corporations and designated digital platform corporations to negotiate in good faith for financial remuneration for the use of, and reproduction of, news content,” informed Bills Digests, which give ‘independent perspective’ on Australian Government’s legislation.
The code was passed by both houses of Australian Parliament on February 25 after a contentious standoff between the government and Facebook, and formally received the Governor General’s assent on March 3.
According to media reports, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) in February had written to Google to “properly share advertising revenues” for content published by newspapers, after similar deal was made in the run-up to enactment of code in Australia.
