Australia has done it, New Zealand wants to follow.
New Zealand's communications minister Kris Faafoi said he had met with Google and Facebook to encourage them to enter into licensing deals with the country's media.
An interview decided following the recent passage of an Australian law obliging the giants of the Tech to pay the traditional media.
However, the minister said he favored the conclusion of agreements, within the framework of negotiations between the country's press groups and the American giants, rather than the adoption of binding regulations.
“
I am convinced that the business discussions that are taking place between traditional media and digital platforms will also start in New Zealand and I encourage them,
” Kris Faafoi told Parliament.
But it does not close the door to legislative action depending on the progress of exchanges between publishers and platforms.
Follow the Australian model
Australia has crossed swords with Facebook and Google to force them to pay the media to compensate for their predation in the online advertising market.
After threatening to leave the country, Google ended up signing numerous agreements with Australian publishers, up to 100 million euros.
Facebook, on the other hand, erased the Australian media from its social network for five days to obtain concessions from the government.
He is in the process of signing agreements with the country's press, the articles of which will be featured in the new Facebook News tab.
In addition, Mark Zuckerberg's group has announced that it will invest "
at least $ 1 billion
" in news content over the next three years.
Read also: Facebook signs peace with Australia
The Australian government won its bet thanks to a key measure of its law: in the event of failure of negotiations between platforms and publishers, an external arbitrator will decide between the two final offers.
It is a sword of Damocles to force Google and Facebook to sign generous deals, rather than risking the arbitrator choosing the financial demands of publishers.
Read also: Neighboring rights: Microsoft engages with the European press
In 2019, the European Union adopted the establishment of neighboring rights.
France was the first country to transpose the law, and a first agreement has just been signed between Google and the daily press after numerous difficulties.
Voices are being raised so that European publishers can also benefit from the Australian arbitration system, which rebalances the balance of power in negotiations.
Microsoft pledged on February 22 to support the European press in this new fight.
If the initiative of Minister Kris Faafoi is a milestone, it is not the first action of his government.
In February an envelope of 55 million dollars was opened to support "
journalism of public interest
".
