The ACCC has authorised Country Press Australia (CPA) and members to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google over payments for news content.

The ACCC is proposing to authorise CPA and members to collectively negotiate with Facebook and Google over payments for news content

The Senate Economics Legislation Committee has recommended passage of the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020.

Tim Dwyer, ‘Is news worth a lot or a little? Google and Facebook want to have it both ways’ (The Conversation, 25 January 2021)

Stephan Brook and Nick Bonyhady, ‘Google admits to removing local news content in 'experiment'‘ (SMH, 13 January 2021)

The Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020 was introduced into the House of Representatives on 9 December 2020.

The ACCC has issued a media release in response to Facebook’s threat to prevent sharing news on its service in Australia in response to the draft media bargaining code.

ACCC responds to Google open letter

Rob Nicholls, 'In a world first, Australia plans to force Facebook and Google to pay for news (but ABC and SBS miss out)' (The Conversation, 31 July 2020)

The ACCC has released its draft mandatory media bargaining code for consultation.

Speaking to The Guardian, ACCC chair, Rod Sims, said he would welcome the continuation of the AAP in some form and that if there was a bidder the ACCC would be ‘watching to ensure there were no inappropriate impediments to sale’.

‘The ACCC is seeking views to inform its work on developing a new draft mandatory code that will address bargaining power imbalances between Australia’s news media businesses and Google and Facebook.‘

The ACCC announced it would not oppose Nine-Fairfax merger.