8 Mar 2021
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is planning on marshalling a global effort among industrialised nations to introduce a so-called ‘Amazon tax’ in response to online companies reaping the rewards of restrictions on small businesses during the pandemic.
The Chancellor is looking to come to an agreement among nations on how to implement a global tax on online companies before the G7 meeting in Cornwall this June.
Implementing such a tax would require global cooperation, as the company is currently taxed under international treaties through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Sunak has already spoken about the issue with United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin, who is said to have expressed “openness” to the idea of implementing an Amazon tax.
Reasonable regulation is democratic, but the moral panic around big tech is muddying the waters.
Australia’s new News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code will force platforms like Facebook and Google to pay local media outlets and publishers to link their content in news feeds or search results. The Australian law is being seen as one of the early shots fired in the coming battle by countries to regulate tech giants to take back some of the control they have on global communications.
But is it an ideal regulatory model? Won’t regulating the platforms affect free speech? Is regulating platforms the way to save the news media business that is in the doldrums? Here we discuss the issue.
Explained: What s Australia s new media bargain code all about?
Depending on who is explaining it, the code can oscillate between a sham to fill the coffers of Big Media to a plan for news publishers to get their due from Big Tech.
On February 17, the Australian House of Representatives
passed a piece of legislation called the News Media Bargaining Code. Under the code, Facebook and Google are required to pay Australian news outlets for displaying their content.
In response, Facebook stopped displaying news content from the country. What forced Facebook to take such a drastic step? Why is Google signing deals with news publishers to pay them for their content? Whatâs this new Australian news media bargain code about? Why do governments and media publishers want to rein in Big Tech? And most importantly, will this news media bargain code really help journalism or simply tilt the balance of power from Big Tech to Big Media?
23 Feb 2021
The United Kingdom may follow the lead of Australia and Canada in forcing Facebook to pay news publishers for hosting their content, government officials have suggested.
A Downing Street spokesman said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was “obviously concerned” about Facebook’s decision to censor news content on its platform in Australia, and may introduce legislation to take on Big Tech platforms “later this year”.
“We’re obviously concerned about access to news being restricted in Australia. As we always have done, we will be robust in defending free speech and journalism. We’re setting up a unit to promote competition in digital markets and ensure major tech companies cannot exploit dominant market positions,” the spokesman told
eMarketer senior analyst Bill Fisher hosts principal analyst Karin von Abrams, senior analyst Paul Briggs, and research analyst at Insider Intelligence Man-Chung Cheung to discuss internet regulations worldwide: how Brexit will change UK internet rules, major EU antitrust cases, Canada s Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA), why the Chinese government has turned its attention to homegrown tech giants, and more.