California Law Targets Big Tech

California lawmakers have proposed a bill requiring Big Tech platforms to pay publishers for hosting news content. The bill called the California Journalism Preservation Act, has passed the state Assembly and is awaiting approval from the state Senate and Governor Gavin Newsom. If enacted, the bill would establish a usage fee that tech platforms must pay eligible digital journalism providers based on the amount of news content displayed or linked to. Meta (formerly Facebook) has criticized the bill, arguing that publishers willingly share their content and that the consolidation of the local news industry in California predates the rise of Facebook. This development in California echoes similar conflicts in Australia, where the government sought to make online platforms pay for news content. Facebook initially restricted news pages in Australia but eventually agreed with the government.