(NewsNation) — Meta has threatened to ban news from the US if Congress passes legislation requiring platforms like Facebook and Google to negotiate with publishers and compensate them for their content.
He called the Law of Competition and Preservation of Journalism
it was approved by a committee, but still needs the approval of the full Senate.
Facebook previously threatened to block news in Canada and Australia when similar laws were proposed in those countries, The Verge reported.
New Zealand also recently proposed new legislation that would require major tech companies to pay for local news content, partner NewsNation The Hill wrote.
Andy Stone, spokesman for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, criticized the Journalism and Competition Act On twittercalling it “ill-considered”.
“No business should be forced to pay for content that users don’t want to see and that’s not a significant source of revenue,” Stone said.
Colby Hall, founding editor of Mediaite, says that news organizations argue that there is value in news content.
“I think social media without news is just jokes and memes and pictures of your kids and gossip,” Hall said on “Morning in America. “And yes, there is something of value there. It’s fun. It’s a distraction. But what I guess the news organizations are saying is the real value, what they really spend a lot of money on, is reporting the news, and that’s what adds great value to Facebook.”
While journalism is needed, Hall said, social media is the future.
“How can we bring the two together so that there are two healthy institutions, and the body politic can be well-informed with reasonable people, trustworthy people, or outlets, and we can be smarter and not just fall prey to gossip and propaganda. ? Hall said.
Watch the full interview with Colby Hall in the video player above.
