Californians may no longer be able to read daily news from their Facebook and Instagram feeds if the state legislature enforces a bill

technical platforms to pay publishers

. That is the threat that parent company Meta made via Twitter on Wednesday. announced on Wednesday, May 31, 2023 that Facebook and Instagram would block news content if the state passes a bill that would force technology platforms to pay publishers.

If the Journalism Preservation Act is passed, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram instead of paying into a slush fund that primarily benefits large, out-of-state media companies under the guise of helping from California publishers, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone tweeted.

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California Assembly member Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) sponsored the California Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, a bipartisan bill that would require online platforms like Facebook to pay a journalistic usage fee to eligible digital journalism providers when they sell ads in addition to news content. the bill

Channeling efforts would also require publishers to invest 70% percent of those profits into maintaining California journalism jobs and ad revenue from platforms like Facebook to mitigate the decline of many local news outlets.

The bill has strong support from news advocacy groups, including the California News Publishers Assn. and the News/Media Alliance. (The Los Angeles Times is a member of both organizations and supports the proposed legislation.)

California bill would force Big Tech to pay for news content

tweet

Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, called the program a “slush fund” and argued that the bill does not recognize outlets themselves posting content to the platform. Over the past decade, local outlets have taken an economic hit as Silicon Valley digital algorithms have shifted away from news content.

Wicks

has

called Meta’s response is a scare tactic that they have tried unsuccessfully in every country that has attempted it. the

nonprofit

News Media Alliance

has

called the threat “undemocratic and appropriate”.

The bill mimics measures in other countries that have attempted to address the shift in digital media traffic and revenue.

In February 2021, Australia passed a law called the News Media Bargaining Code requiring Google and Meta to pay journalistic outlets for their content. The law also requires tech companies to give news outlets advance notice of algorithm changes. In response, Facebook briefly blocked publishers and users from sharing news links on its platform. As a result, total news traffic fell 13%, according to Chartbeat.

before Meta lifted the ban following a code change. Facebook restored news content days later after the Australian government agreed to make some changes to the news media bargaining code.

The Australian government released a report in December 2022 detailing the law

program

‘s success in closing 30 deals between media outlets and technology platforms. Canada, Germany and Indonesia have considered similar measures.

Can charging a journalism usage fee to Big Tech help save local news?

the

state of California

The meeting is expected to vote on the bill

todaythursday. When it’s over, it’ll go for it

goes to the Senate.