Tech Platforms-D – DO NOT USE

Reacting to yesterday’s congressional hearing and testimony by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, former Facebook data scientist Roddy Lindsay agrees with Haugen’s proposed solution to address the problem of big tech platforms spreading harmful misinformation and fake news – make the ... Read More

On September 27, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published the long-awaited final report of its Digital Advertising Services Inquiry. The inquiry, focusing on online display advertising, began in February 2020 following a request from the Treasury and comes ... Read More

The News Media Alliance is one of 17 international and national news media associations to sign a joint letter published today calling for countries to prioritize the value of journalistic content on digital platforms and ensure fair compensation from the ... Read More

On September 17, the Alliance signed onto an amicus brief arguing that Google’s amended complaint in its antitrust lawsuit against Texas should be made publicly available. Judge Castel in the Southern District of New York asked the parties to show why ... Read More

On September 15, several former top national security officials sent a letter asking Congress to delay antitrust bills, because it would harm the U.S. in its tech race with China. Axios published the letter, signed by 12 former intelligence officials ... Read More

Biden recently nominated “longtime privacy advocate” Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC on Monday. Axios reports this nomination “signals aggressive action” from the FTC against big tech. Bedoya has has worked at Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology as the founding ... Read More

The Wall Street Journal has begun a series called The Facebook Files based on internal emails and files the outlet obtained. While Facebook claimed to be promoting “meaningful social interactions” (MSI) by demoting quality journalism it claimed was divisive, it ... Read More

Today, the Northern District of California published its decision in the Epic Games v. Apple case. The court found that Apple violated California’s Unfair Competition Law and issued an injunction against Apple. The injunction prohibits Apple from requiring developers to ... Read More

On September 8, the High Court of Australia denied media companies’ appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales defamation decision last year. On June 1, 2020, the Supreme Court of New South Wales held that several media companies ... Read More

After a month of negotiating collectively under authorization from the ACCC, with the looming threat of forced arbitration, Australian news organization Country Press Australia (CPA), which includes over 180 regional and local publications across the country, struck a deal with ... Read More

Today, over 70 regional news publications represented by Country Press Australia reached a deal to join Google News Showcase. This deal will allow the publishers to be fairly compensated for their content by terms that they negotiated with the dominant ... Read More

Digiday reported that Google has been meeting with select, large publishers about its privacy sandbox. Though a Google spokesperson said they are “committed to open dialogue with publishers of all sizes,” most publishers were excluded from these meetings. Google and ... Read More

The Judicial Panel for Multistate Litigation (JPML) ruled on the antitrust litigation pending against Google and selected New York as the forum for all cases. This is a very positive development, as the venue is more favorable than California as ... Read More

On August 5, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that it would allow Country Press Australia (CPA) and its members to collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook. The authorization will last for 10 years. The CPA, which represents ... Read More

On July 22, the News Media Alliance hosted a policy maker breakfast and book launch event for An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang ... Read More

On July 13, France’s antitrust group announced a 500 million euro fine on Google for not complying with rules on conducting negotiations with news publishers. Several news publishers accused Google of failing to hold conversations in good faith to compensate ... Read More

This week, Attorneys General from 36 states and the District of Columbia filed a new antitrust lawsuit against Google alleging that the tech giant abused its power with the company’s Play Store on Android devices. Plaintiffs allege that anticompetitive practices ... Read More

In December of last year, the FTC unveiled massive antitrust lawsuits against Facebook seeking to have the social media company broken up. The suits accused Facebook of illegally crushing competition, namely the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, on its way ... Read More

In January 2020, Google announced that it would be devaluing third-party cookies within two years “to make the web more private and secure for users, while also supporting publishers.” While some advertisers considered shifting their budgets and ad tech vendors ... Read More

The House Judiciary Committee held a markup hearing for a slate of antitrust bills aimed at reigning in the power of the nation’s largest tech companies. The bills included the Mergers Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021 (H.R. 3843), the ... Read More

In early June, the French competition authority, Autorité de la concurrence, announced that Google had reached an agreement with the authority to settle an antitrust investigation regarding the tech giant’s anticompetitive behavior in the market for online advertising services ... Read More

Over the last year, multiple lawsuits, bills and investigations have been introduced to examine the anticompetitive behavior of Big Tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, and how their dominance of the online ecosystem harms news publishers and other creators ... Read More

New polling from Echelon Insights, in partnership with the News Media Alliance, found that a majority of the 956 Republican voters surveyed support the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act ... Read More

On May 27, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google was nearing a settlement with French regulators in an antitrust case that claims the tech giant has abused its power in the online advertising industry. Australian regulators are also investigating ... Read More

The News Media Alliance submitted a response to the Judicial Panel of Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) regarding Google’s motion to move the antitrust case filed by the Attorneys General of Texas and 15 other states and territories from Texas to California ... Read More

On May 25, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the country’s first state law regulating online platform moderation practices. The bill makes it illegal for online platforms to suspend or ban state political candidates for more than 14 days or to ... Read More

Re-introduced in March, the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” has gained bicameral, bipartisan support in Congress. Introducing sponsors David Cicilline (D-RI) and Ken Buck (R-CO) in the House, and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) in the Senate, have ... Read More

From May 10 – 12, the Alliance hosted a series of meetings between local member publishers and their representatives in Congress so they could discuss the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” (JCPA) and the impact the legislation would have on ... Read More

This week, the News Media Alliance will host virtual meetings between Alliance member newspaper executives and their members of Congress to advocate for the passage of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), also known as the “Safe Harbor bill.” ... Read More

Show your support for the "Journalism Competition and Preservation Act" and ask your Members of Congress to do the same with these pre-written tweets and eye-catching social graphics ... Read More

In mid-March, Politico published a powerful piece of investigative reporting titled “How Washington fumbled the future,” detailing the Federal Trade Commission’s 2012 investigation into Google’s anticompetitive conduct and the agency’s failure to bring a case against Google ... Read More

Nearly 65 percent of all Google searches end without a user going to a different website, according to a report by Rand Fishkin. The Alliance’s White Paper further detailed how Google creates a walled garden by using its market dominant position to diminish the ... Read More

On March 12, News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern, testified at the House Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing, "Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press." Watch his testimony ... Read More

On March 12, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law held a hearing about “Saving the Free and Diverse Press” by reviving competition in the marketplace. At the hearing, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced the "Journalism Competition ... Read More

The News Media Alliance will testify today at 10:00 a.m. ET at a House Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing, “Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press,” on the need for the dominant tech platforms, such ... Read More

The News Media Alliance applauds House Antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI), Ranking Member Ken Buck (R-CO), Senate Antitrust Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Senator John N. Kennedy (R-LA) for today reintroducing the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” (JCPA) ... Read More

Today, the Australian Parliament voted to pass the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission news media bargaining code, which requires the dominant tech platforms to, among other things, negotiate with and compensate news publishers in Australia for use of their content ... Read More

On February 25, both houses of the Australian Parliament passed the News Media Bargaining Code. It passed with several last-minute amendments that include more negotiation time before binding arbitration and government discretion to exempt the platforms from arbitration after considering the power ... Read More

On February 22, Microsoft announced that it would join forces with European publishers to have platforms pay for news content throughout Europe. They plan to model the payment directive on Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code legislation, with an arbitration model. That ... Read More

On February 22, Microsoft announced that it would join forces with tech and media companies to form a coalition aimed at addressing disinformation and “developing technical standards for certifying the source and history or provenance of media content.” This technology could create ... Read More

On February 22, Facebook announced it had reached an agreement with the Australian government to keep news on its platform. The announcement appeared as an update on the company’s original blog post announcing it would ban news from its platform ... Read More

On February 17, Facebook announced it would prevent users and publishers from “sharing or viewing Australian and international news content.” This means Australian news publishers and individual users will be unable to post or share any news content to Facebook, ... Read More

News Media Alliance Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Danielle Coffey, joined a panel on BBC's World News Service radio show, "The Real Story: Who Will Pay for the News?" to discuss the proposed news media bargaining code in Australia ... Read More

Facebook has announced it will limit sharing and viewing of news by publishers and users in Australia on its platform, in response to the proposed news media bargaining code in the country ... Read More

The News Media Alliance commends the release today of the Australian Parliament’s Economics Legislation Committee Report on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) News Media Bargaining Code ... Read More

On February 4, Google announced it was launching its News Showcase in Australia. If publishers agree to Google’s terms, Google will pay them for including their content in the Showcase. The details on payment remain unreleased. Publications participating in the News Showcase ... Read More

On February 3, News Media Canada released a letter to all Members of Parliament, urging them to prepare legislation to compensate news publishers for their content. The letter points out that Google and Facebook have disproportionate market power and use ... Read More

On February 3, Microsoft released a statement fully supporting Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher about correcting the power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news ... Read More

Microsoft President Brad Smith today outlined Microsoft’s support for the proposed bargaining code in Australia that would, among other things, require dominant tech platforms to negotiate with and compensate news publishers for use of their content ... Read More

An op-ed by News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern ran in The Australian today, regarding the proposed bargaining code in Australia to require the big tech platforms to pay news publishers for use of their content ... Read More

On February 1, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) hosted a public hearing to discuss the News Media Bargaining Code legislation and address concerns raised by public submissions. While the hearing addressed praise for and concerns about the Code, ... Read More

Today, the News Media Alliance submitted a Declaration with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to strongly advocate to keep the ad tech antitrust lawsuit against Google – filed by the State of Texas and nine ... Read More

On January 31, Google released a blog with “Questions and Answers” about Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. A third of Google’s “answers” included reference to Google’s News Showcase as the solution for news publishers seeking compensation and proof of Google’s ... Read More

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an op-ed that it has approved Alliance members to run in their publications, suggesting that the rise in closures of local news and problems with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy can both be improved through government advertising ... Read More

On January 22, in yet another attempt to discredit Australia’s upcoming Code requiring digital platforms to compensate news publishers for their content, Google released a blog listing eight “facts” about Google and the Code. These so-called facts include that the ... Read More

Today the News Media Alliance sent a letter to the U.S. Economic Council Director, Brian Deese, and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)-Designate, Hon. Katherine Tai, to express serious concerns about a recent attempt by the USTR – in the very last ... Read More

On January 21, Google officially signed an agreement to compensate a coalition of French publishers for Google’s use of their content. In a blog post, Google called the agreement a “major step forward” and a framework for all of Google’s future negotiations with ... Read More

On January 15, Reuters reported that State Attorneys General are planning to file a third lawsuit against Google focusing on its Play Store for Android phones. The lawsuit is expected to be filed in February or March. Google’s policies include ... Read More

On January 15, WhatsApp announced it would delay its recent privacy policy update after users raised concerns about the app sharing data with its parent company, Facebook. Originally, users were required to consent to the policy by February 8 or ... Read More

On January 13, the The Australian Financial Review reported that Google was adjusting algorithms to block Australian news sites, as part of an “experiment.” A Google spokesperson confirmed this report, saying that the adjusted algorithms would “reach about 1% of ... Read More

On January 7, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a C-SPAN interview that he no longer intends to move forward with the notice of proposed rule-making to clarify Section 230. He said he had insufficient time to complete the administrative ... Read More

On December 28, National Review published a column by News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern, discussing the recent lawsuit by ten attorneys general against Google for anticompetitive behavior, and the need for Congress to grant an antitrust safe ... Read More

The News Media Alliance applauds Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) for the release of the discussion draft of his proposed Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) reform bill, which includes proposals that would help news publishers protect their online content and facilitate ... Read More

On December 18, a bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, requesting that the administration not include broad online liability protections in the potential U.S.-UK trade agreement. The letter, signed by Senators Mark Warner ... Read More

On December 17, a bipartisan coalition of 38 states filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging Google used its market power to thwart competition. The lawsuit alleges that Google leveraged its market power ... Read More

On December 16, 10 states filed a complaint in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Sherman division alleging that Google illegally monopolized products and services that publishers used to advertise. The complaint further alleges that Google’s anticompetitive ... Read More

We applaud all 10 states that have stepped forward to take action to address Google's flatly anticompetitive ad technology business.   ... Read More

On December 9, the FTC announced that it will sue Facebook for violating antitrust law along with 46 states' attorneys general. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that “Facebook has engaged in a ... Read More