CANBERRA: Australia should force Meta Platforms to pay news companies for content that appears on Facebook and impose broader regulation on social media firms, a senior News Corp. executive said.
Meta said in March it would stop paying Australian news publishers for content. The government is now considering whether to apply a 2021 law that would force it to do so.
“Meta must be designated under the Media Bargaining Code and challenged to negotiate in good faith,” News Corp. Australia executive chairman Michael Miller said in a speech in Canberra, using the jargon of the 2021 legislation.
“We had a deal — and they walked away. I believe they have an obligation to renew the agreements, and honor our laws,” he said.
“We can’t let ourselves be bullied.”
Asked for comment, Meta referred Reuters to a company blog post that said interest in news was declining on its platforms and cast those platforms as free distribution channels that media companies could use to expand their audiences.
Publishers argue that Facebook and other Internet giants profit unfairly from advertising revenue when links to news articles appear on their platforms.
Meta struck payment deals with Australian media firms in 2021, most of which lapse this year.
If the government tries to enforce the 2021 law, Meta could block users from reposting news articles as it did briefly in Australia in 2021 and has done since 2023 in Canada, which has similar laws and where academics have noted an increased spread of misinformation as a result.
Meta has been reducing its promotion of news and political content to drive traffic and has said it will discontinue a tab on Facebook promoting news in Australia.
In his speech, Miller also decried the impact of social media on mental health and its amplification of scams and social ills such as misogyny.
He proposed a regulatory framework for tech firms such as Meta, Tik Tok and X, formerly known as Twitter, that he said would protect Australians.
This would include making companies liable for all content on their platforms, competition laws for digital advertising, better handling of consumer complaints and donations to mental health programs.
Companies that do not abide by these rules should be barred from the Australian market, he said.
A spokesperson for Meta said: “The suggestion that Meta doesn’t respect Australian laws or community standards is preposterous.”
The company has restricted access to content in line with Australian laws, worked with law enforcement to prevent real world harm and trained thousands of young Australians in online safety, they said.
Australia should force Meta to pay for news, News Corp. executive says
https://arab.news/gnr9y
Australia should force Meta to pay for news, News Corp. executive says
- Meta said in March it would stop paying Australian news publishers for content
- Australian government now considering whether to apply a 2021 law that would force it to do so
Israel arrests 2 Turkish CNN journalists over live broadcast outside IDF HQ
- Police said reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility
- Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites
LONDON: Israeli police have arrested two Turkish CNN journalists who were broadcasting live outside the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Police said the pair were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility, according to the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit.
Reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman, from the network’s Turkish-language channel, had been reporting near the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters on Tuesday after Iran launched another missile barrage at Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel.
During the live broadcast, two men believed to be soldiers approached the crew and seized the reporter’s phone, according to initial reports and a video circulating online that could not be independently verified.
Police said officers were dispatched after receiving reports of two people carrying cameras and allegedly broadcasting in real time for a foreign outlet.
עיתונאים של CNN טורקיה נעצרו לאחר שצילמו את בסיס הקרייה@NoamIhmels pic.twitter.com/t8a5P9yXfw
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) March 3, 2026
Israel’s long-standing military censorship system, overseen by the IDF Military Censor, has long barred journalists and civilians from publishing material deemed harmful to national security.
Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites.
After a series of similar incidents involving foreign media — most of them Palestinian citizens of Israel working for Arab-language and international media, along with foreign journalists — during the 12-Day War, Israeli police halted live international broadcasts from missile impact sites, citing concerns that exact locations were being revealed.
The Government Press Office later imposed a blanket ban on live coverage from crash and impact areas.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir subsequently ordered that all foreign journalists obtain prior written approval from the military censor before broadcasting — live or recorded — from combat zones or missile strike locations.
Police said that when officers asked the CNN Turk crew to identify themselves, they presented expired press cards and were taken in for questioning.
Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications, condemned the arrests as an attack on the press and said Ankara is working to secure the journalists’ release.
