Australia’s world-first news media bargaining code will soon be in force after legislation cleared federal parliament.
Google and Facebook signed deals with major news companies before the negotiating rules were enshrined in law.
The landmark bill received the final tick of approval on Thursday when parliament’s lower house agreed to the government’s changes, which were made after negotiations with tech giants.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims is confident the heavily amended code will still curtail the immense market power of digital platforms.
“Google and Facebook need media but they don’t need any particular company and that (previously) meant media companies couldn’t do commercial deals with Facebook or…
