Meta has threatened to remove news content from Facebook in the US.
It objects to a new law that would give news organizations more power to negotiate fees for content shared on Facebook.
A similar law, passed in Australia, led to reports of Facebook being temporarily suspended last year.
Meta claims that their platform actually provides increased traffic to struggling news outlets.
Publishers put their content on Facebook because “it benefits their bottom line,” he says.
The legislation, known as the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), was introduced in Congress by Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and has bipartisan support.
This will give publishers and broadcasters more options to collectively bargain with social media companies for a bigger share of ad revenue.
Media companies say Meta makes huge money from news articles shared on the platform.
Local news especially struggled during the pandemic, as Meta made huge profits.
However, Meta says that this narrative is wrong. Instead, it says, Meta drives traffic to news sources.
META spokesman Andy Stone said: “If Congress passes an unscrupulous journalism bill as part of national security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news from our platform entirely. “.
Meta also argues that news sharing on Facebook accounts is only a part of its revenue.
A similar Australian law, which took effect in March 2021, led to the brief shutdown of Facebook news feeds in the country.
The company quickly reversed the decision after widespread criticism – brokering a deal with the Australian government.
In a statement about Australia’s proposed law last year, a Meta spokesperson said, “For Facebook, the business benefit from news is minimal. News makes up less than 4% of the content that people share. Check it out in the news feed.”
The US legislation is part of a larger set of laws aimed at tackling the dominance of Big Tech.
Supporters of JCPA argue that social media will become America’s “de facto local newspapers” if the act is not passed.
Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project, said media outlets are being “eaten alive” by Meta.
“Meta’s efforts to blackmail Congress prove once again why this monopoly is a threat to democracies around the world,” he said.
