LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – As the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act gains more ground in the legislature, some may object to hosting news content on their platforms. 

On Tuesday, social media platform Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms Inc., announced it would be “forced to consider” removing news content from its platform should Congress pass the act – which would require tech companies to pay news outlets for their material.  

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Meta Spokesman, Andy Stone, declared in a tweet that the legislation and the government would be “creating  cartel-like entity” in which a private company would be forced to subsidize other private entities.  

“If Congress passes an ill-considered journalism bill as part of national

security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news from

our platform altogether rather than submit to government-mandated

negotiations that unfairly disregard any value we provide to news

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outlets through increased traffic and subscriptions,” Stone said in a tweet on Dec. 5.  

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2022, was sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) Minnesota.  The act is summarized below as it was introduced in 2021. 

“This bill creates a four-year safe harbor from antitrust laws for print, broadcast, or digital news companies to collectively negotiate with online content distributors (e.g., social media companies) regarding the terms on which the news companies’ content may be distributed by online content distributors.”

While there were several Republicans that voted against it, the JCPA advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee in September with bipartisan support.  A large advocate for the bill is the News Media Alliance, formerly the Newspaper Association of America.  It reasons that the bill would help return some revenue to the news agencies, when most of it goes to big tech companies. 

“For every dollar made in digital advertising, the platforms take as much as 70% of the revenue, leaving publishers with a scant 30%,” the News Media Alliance said in a statement, ”Meanwhile, publishers are paying an additional “ad-tech tax” to the platforms, leaving even less for publishers. As a result of diminished revenues, thousands of journalists have been laid off and local newspapers have shuttered.” 

When the bill passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, Sen. Klobuchar expressed some of her thoughts regarding the future. 

“As the daughter of a newspaperman, I understand firsthand the vital role that a free press plays in strengthening our democracy,” Klobuchar said, “But local news is facing an existential crisis , with ad revenues plummeting, newspapers closing, and many rural communities becoming ‘news deserts’ without access to local reporting.”  

According to the senator, the legislation would enable media outlets to negotiate for fair compensation from Big Tech companies that profit on the work of news outlets.