Australia: Facebook to pay Murdoch’s News Corp for content

News Corp and Facebook have come to an agreement three weeks after the Australian government approved laws to make the digital platforms pay for news. The media company had already made a similar deal with Google.

News Corp announced a three-year content deal with Facebook on Tuesday, following a row between the Australian government and digital giants which culminated with the government  forcing digital platforms to pay for news.

The deal between Rupert Murdoch’s media company and the world’s biggest social media platform, Facebook  will apply to News Corp’s major Australian titles as well as regional publications. Various media outlets, such as newspapers The Australian, Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph and Melbourne’s Herald Sun, will all be providing content via Facebook’s “News” service.

Sky News Australia, which comes under the News Corp umbrella, is also included in the package.

The arrangement follows a similar deal News Corp struck with Google last month.

A long time coming

News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said the deal was “more than a decade in the making.”

“The agreement with Facebook is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses,” he said in a statement.

Thomson thanked the Australian government for “taking a principled stand for publishers” through its laws that could force Facebook and Google pay for news content.

Andrew Hunter, Facebook’s head of news partnerships Australia and New Zealand, said the social media company was “committed to bringing Facebook News to Australia.”

Fears over News Corp dominance

The deal between the two comes as a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra examined News Corp’s media dominance and influence in domestic affairs.

It was sparked by an anti-Murdoch petition from former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd which garnered over half a million signatures.

Source: dw.com