The Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant previously pulled out news content on its platform, specifically Facebook, in 2021 over a law in Australia, which requires them to pay for news content.
Meta Threatens to Block Facebook and Instagram News Content in California
This time, Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is making a similar threat. According to Axios, the tech firm plans to block news content from its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, in California if a new bill turns into law.
Meta issued a warning against legislators in California, threatening to pull out all of the news content from its platforms, Instagram and Facebook, which draws millions of users globally.
A Meta spokesperson Andy Stone, clearly says, "If the Journalism Preservation Act passes, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram."
The company argues that the bill asking them to pay news publishers for their content would give an unfair advantage to "big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers."
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California's Journalism Preservation Act
The bill in question is formally named the California Journalism Preservation Act. Once it passes into law, it requires tech giants in the state, which includes the Facebook parent, to pay news publishers for the use of their content.
Reuters reports that the proposed act seeks to force "online platforms" like Google to pay news publishers a "journalism usage fee" for the content showing up in their services. The "tax," which is based on the advertising earnings of the platform, will be directly paid to the state. But California proposes to allocate at least 70 percent of the payment to various media outlets throughout the state, according to NPR.
The bill essentially seeks to revive that significant decline in media outlets, which have been struggling with the shift of advertising revenue from the traditional print format to digital.
The Meta spokesperson says that the proposed bill in California is giving them two choices. Either they pay or remove the news content from its giant platforms.
Meanwhile, the News Media Alliance trade group executive vice president, Danielle Coffey, slammed the recent threat of the Instagram parent. He accused the Zuckerberg firm of being "unbecoming" and "undemocratic."
If Meta follows through on its threat, folks in California could lose access to news content from various sources, such as major newspapers, local news outlets, and even independent journalists. In turn, the move could significantly impact the public's ability to stay in the know about relevant issues.
But despite that, the threat from Meta has been done before. Facebook has yanked all its news articles in Australia for some time after a similar bill turned into law.
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