The Conversation, which publishes current affairs commentary
by academics, said it asked Facebook to begin talks as required under new
Australian legislation that requires the social media firm and Alphabet Inc's
Google to negotiate content-supply deals with media outlets.
Facebook declined without giving a reason, The Conversation
said, even though the publisher was among the first in Australia to secure a
similar deal with Google in the lead-up to the law in 2020.
The knockback could present the first test of a controversial
mechanism unique to Australia's effort to claw back advertising dollars from
Google and Facebook: if they refuse to negotiate licence fees with publishers,
a government-appointed arbitrator may step in.
In a statement responding to Reuters questions, Facebook's
head of news partnerships for Australia, Andrew Hunter, said the company was
"focused on concluding commercial deals with a range of Australian
publishers".
Hunter did not answer specific questions concerning The
Conversation, but said Facebook was planning a separate initiative "to
support regional, rural and digital Australian newsrooms and public-interest
journalism in the coming months", without giving details.
"If Google's done a deal with them, I can't see how
Facebook should argue that they shouldn't," Rod Sims, the chair of the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said in an interview.
"The question of designation might need to come into
play," he noted, using the term for assigning an arbitrator.
Under the law, the decision to designate a Big Tech firm for
intervention was made by the treasurer, which is advised by the ACCC, noted
Sims, but "an absolute 'no' for an organisation that should be getting a
deal is something we'll look into."
The Conversation was "exactly what we had in mind with
the Code", he said.
Governments around the world are introducing laws to make
the tech giants compensate media companies for the links that drive readers -
and advertising revenue - to their platforms. But Australia is the only country
where the government may set the fees if negotiations fail, a factor that drove
Facebook to block newsfeeds in the country just before it was passed.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who earlier this year negotiated
with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over the laws, was not immediately
available for comment.
"SCRATCHING OUR HEADS"
The case also paints a less rosy picture of the law's impact
on the industry than has been widely reported. Since it took effect, a handful
of the country's biggest media players, from News Corp to the Australian
Broadcasting Corp, have struck deals with the tech giants.
But some small and independent publishers whose content
helps draw four-fifths of Australia's 25 million population to the Facebook
site said the law had created a two-tier industry where rival titles that were
owned by large parent companies secured deals while others missed out.
Nelson Yap, publisher of Australian Property Journal, which
is on a government register of media businesses covered by the law, said he was
in early discussions with Google but had emailed Facebook twice with no
response.
He said he read Facebook's public statements about talking
to publishers and "I'm sitting here going, with whom? Not with us. Despite
reaching out, we haven't heard anything. We're all scratching our heads, trying
to work out what to do next."
A Facebook spokesperson did not answer a question about any
contacts with the Property Journal. Country Press Australia, a regional
newspaper industry group, said it was holding constructive talks with Facebook
on behalf about 140 publishers.
The Conversation editor Misha Ketchell said that
"obviously we are disappointed that we haven't been able to engage in
negotiations with Facebook so far, but we remain optimistic that we will be
able to reach an agreement".
The ACCC's Sims said the deal pipeline had "gone quieter
than I would have envisaged" but urged smaller publishers to be patient.
"On the one hand I'm concerned that people aren't
getting a response to the emails, on the other hand I have seen it before and
then things change and deals get done," he said. -Reuters