Meta threatens to yank news content from California over payments bill

Facebook genitor Meta Platforms said connected Wednesday it would region quality contented successful its location authorities of California if the authorities authorities passed authorities forcing tech companies to wage publishers.

The projected California Journalism Preservation Act would necessitate "online platforms" to wage a "journalism usage fee" to quality providers whose enactment appears connected their services, aimed astatine reversing a diminution successful the section quality sector.

In a tweeted statement, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone called the outgo operation a "slush fund" and said the measure would chiefly payment "big, out-of-state media companies nether the guise of aiding California publishers."

The connection was Meta's archetypal connected the California measure specifically, though the institution has been waging akin battles implicit compensation for quality publishers astatine the national level and successful countries extracurricular the United States.

In December, Stone said Meta would remove quality from its level altogether if the US Congress passed a measure that intimately resembles the projected California legislation.

The institution is likewise threatening to withdraw quality successful Canada in effect to projected authorities there, on with Alphabet's Google, which has said it would region links to quality articles from Canadian hunt results.

The proposals are akin to a ground-breaking instrumentality that Australia passed successful 2021, which besides triggered threats from Facebook and Google to curtail their services.

Both companies yet struck deals with Australian media companies aft amendments to the authorities were offered, though the standoff prompted a little shutdown of Facebook quality feeds successful Australia successful the process.

An Australian authorities study released successful December concluded that the instrumentality had mostly worked.

Google did not instantly respond to a Reuters petition for remark astir the California bill.