The companies targeted by the EU's new law, including Apple and Meta, have already announced changes
AFP

Australia's three media barons appeared before a parliamentary inquiry and urged the government to stand firm against global tech giants, particularly Meta's decision to end agreements with news companies to pay for news.

Major media bosses News Corp Australia Executive Chairman Michael Miller, Nine Entertainment CEO Mike Sneesby and Seven West Media's Managing Director and CEO Jeffrey Howard appeared Friday at the first hearings of the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, which was inquiring into the "influence and impacts of social media on Australian society."

In March, Meta, which controlled Facebook and Instagram, announced that it will not renew contracts with media organizations to pay for news at a cost of AU$70m, as the contracts signed under the government's news media bargaining code had ended, The Guardian reported.

Media companies, both small and large, made a case before the parliamentary committee to compel social media companies to pay for news. They argued that Meta's decision to ban news from Facebook will have an adverse impact on the industry and Australian democracy.

Smaller publishers indicated how a potential news ban on Facebook would affect their traffic. Digital Publishers Alliance chair, Tim Duggan, explained some of the smaller publishers garnered 70% of their traffic from Facebook, before Meta deprioritized news.

Pointing to Canada's example, where Meta stopped streaming news last August, Duggan said bigger publishers who have other revenue streams and brand-name recognition, were not affected by the move, as people visit their websites outside social media.

The media companies also demanded action against harmful content on social media.

According to News.com report, News Corp chief Miller told the committee, "Social media has become a toxic force in our society with online scams and blackmail, cyber-bullying and trolling, deep fakes and political interference. It is also setting up a diet of damaging untruths, or threatening the democratic process by restricting Australians access to genuine news and information."

He rejected the claim by social media companies that their users were not interested in news.

"Meta says that news makes up less than 3% of what people see on Facebook. That is also not true. Actually 48% of Australians get their news using a Meta platform," Miller said.

The three media chiefs also urged the government to bring all social media platforms to negotiate with local publishers under the Code. They said Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X and WhatsApp, which are exempted from the Code, have grown significantly over a period of time. These platforms are now monopolizing a large audience in Australia, they added.

"Most certainly the landscape has developed in a way that we should be looking to include those platforms," Miller added.