Australia to require Facebook and Google to pay for news

Mandatory code will direct ad revenue to ailing media companies

20200420N facebook (REUTERS)

Facebook will have to pay media organizations for news content used on its platform in Australia. © Reuters

FUMI MATSUMOTO, Nikkei staff writer

SYDNEY -- Australia will force Facebook and Alphabet subsidiary Google to pay media organizations for news content used on their platforms, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic compounds publishers' woes.

Frydenberg said he has directed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to draft a code of conduct for digital media platforms by the end of July.

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