Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday asked the government to enact laws to make tech giants like Facebook and Google pay for news content they have been using freely. He said that the media invests a huge amount of money to disseminate credible news, but the tech giants earn huge profit out of it.
"The media industry invests a huge amount of money for their reporters, correspondents, and various equipment. It has been disseminating credible news yet Google ends up earning profits. In Australia, the government has asked these tech giants to pay for the news content they've been using freely. It wasn't easy, though. They're super monopolies and big companies, yet, Australia did it," Modi said.
"The Indian media is facing a major financial crisis because of the loss of revenue and pandemic. I've asked the government to enact laws to make these tech giants pay for news," he added.
The BJP leader is also planning to write to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the issue.
Modi had raised the matter through a Zero Hour mention in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The former deputy chief minister of Bihar said, "The government must make Google, Facebook and YouTube pay to print and news channels for the news content they are using freely."
The government should take a cue from the Australian Parliament that passed the world's first law last month to ensure news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, he said.
"I would urge the government of India that the way they have notified Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code to regulate social media and OTT platforms, they should enact a law on the pattern of Australian Code so that we can compel Google to share its revenue with traditional media," he said. Modi said India should take the lead in making Google and Facebook pay a fair share of their earnings from domestically produced news content on the internet to the publishers.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu remarked that the suggestion is "worth considering". Modi said the traditional print and news broadcast media, whose content is freely available on platforms run by the tech giants, are passing through their worst phase in recent history as advertisements have shifted to tech platforms.
"Advertising earnings are going to these tech giants (and) because of this print media, news channels are passing through a financial crisis," Modi said.
"I would urge (that) we should follow a country like Australia which has taken the lead by enacting a law -- News Media Bargaining Code -- by which they have compelled Google to share advertisement revenue with the news media," he said. Google threatened to blackout news from its portal but it ultimately surrendered, the BJP leader said.
"Australia has set a precedence and now France and other European countries are making laws for advertisement revenue sharing," Modi said.
With inputs from PTI
(Edited by : Jerome)
First Published: Mar 18, 2021 5:48 PM IST
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