California lawmakers have revived legislation to charge online platforms for the news articles they publish, a proposal that stalled last year amid divisions within the journalism industry and intense opposition from Google and other companies. technological.
New amendments released Monday to Assembly Bill 886 aim to address small publishers' concerns and make the plan more similar to the way Canada charges platforms to distribute news content.
The bill, also known as the “California Journalism Preservation Act,” requires digital advertising giants to pay media outlets a fee when they sell advertising alongside news content. Publishers would have to use 70% of those funds to pay journalists in California.
The changes require payments to be calculated based on the number of journalists a media outlet employs, similar to Canada's model, rather than how many impressions an article generates, as originally proposed. And they ask for the creation of a fund to which the platforms contribute, which would distribute the money to the media. Google is paying $74 million annually to a fund for the news industry under a law that came into effect last year in Canada.
“What we learned with Canada's version is that it is possible and that the news is valuable and critical,” said Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland). “And that we should do everything we can to ensure that our editors are compensated for the work they do.”
The new amendments to Wicks' bill would also give an additional boost to small publishers by making them eligible to receive funding beyond the per-journalist pay and allowing them more flexibility in how they spend the money they would receive under the program by eliminating the portion they owe . spend paying journalists at 50%.
The bill is sponsored by the California News Publishers Association, of which the Los Angeles Times is a member. Publishers argue that online search and social media platforms are hurting the business of journalism by gobbling up advertising revenue while publishing content they don't pay for.
The changes to the bill mark a key development since the bill was suspended last year amid massive opposition from Google and other companies. Google argued that the legislation would disrupt its business model, writing in a blog post in April that the bill “undermines news in California.” The search giant showed its force against the bill earlier this year by removing links to California news sites from its search results for some users.
Google did not respond to an email seeking comment on the latest changes to the bill.
But the amendments are unlikely to be the final modifications. Lawmakers often intensify negotiations on difficult issues as the legislative session nears the end in August. The bill is scheduled for a June 25 hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, its next big hurdle.
State Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Orange), who chairs that committee, said he expects more changes as negotiations continue. He said he would like to see the bill passed, but he wants to make sure he strikes the right balance between what the news industry needs and what tech platforms can afford.
“I think we could screw this up and make it so expensive that the platforms don't carry [journalism] content,” Umberg said. “That would be catastrophic. So I don't know where we hit that sweet spot.”
A separate bill seeking to help the journalism industry would impose a new tax on Amazon, Meta and Google for the data they take from users and pump the money from this “data mining mitigation fee” into the organizations. news, giving them a tax credit for employing full-time journalists.
As a tax measure, Senate Bill 1327 would require approval by two-thirds of the Legislature and presents a political challenge in an election year. However, state Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) said his bill is compatible with Wicks' legislation and he is hopeful lawmakers can find a way to help the journalism industry.
“I continue to have a lot of conversations with her and other people about how we need to solve the problem,” Glazer said. “There are many ways to try to achieve this.”
