Australian Media Executive Urges Resistance Against Meta’s News Payment Cuts
Michael Miller, Executive Chairman of News Corp Australasia, has called on Australia to resist the actions of internet giants like Meta (formerly Facebook) after the company declared it would stop paying for news content.
The president of one of Australia’s largest media companies warned on Monday that the country should stand up to internet behemoths, just days after Facebook parent Meta declared it would no longer pay outlets for news.
Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp Australasia, said Meta’s move jeopardised hundreds of employment and exposed Australians to more scams and disinformation.
“Australia must not give up its leadership in being a country willing to stand up to tech behemoths,” he said in an interview with one of the company’s newspapers.
“Meta feels it is above our government and laws. It shows no concern for communities.”
Meta announced on Friday that it would discontinue the Facebook News tab in Australia and would not renew relationships with news publishers worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The social media company stated that the decision to cancel the news arrangement was based on people not visiting Facebook for news and political material.
Miller said that, despite Meta’s assurances that it endeavored to eliminate scams, they continued to occur.
“And it’s not just scams, it’s the misinformation, it’s the fake news, it’s the social impact that it’s having for all Australians… particularly young Australians who don’t yet have the maturity to understand that what they are seeing on Meta’s platforms is not always real,” he went on to say.
“It’s not just doing damage to the media industry, it’s doing damage to our democracy.”
Meta previously indicated that it would not extend content agreements with news publishers in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
The latest decision was expected, but it will come as a shock to Australian news sources who are already fighting to stay afloat.
A Meta spokesperson would not comment on Miller’s remarks, but said Friday’s decision would still allow users to share and view news content, while publishers could still use their pages to share content.
