We always have enjoyed this social media carrying the news argument

Enjoyment comes in many forms of course:

Meta has claimed news is not the antidote to misinformation and disinformation spreading on Facebook and Instagram, as the company continues to push back against being forced to pay media companies for news in Australia.

Meta announced in March it would not enter into new agreements with media companies to pay for news following the end of contracts signed in 2021 under the Morrison government’s news media bargaining code.

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, is considering whether the Albanese government should use powers under the news media bargaining code legislation to “designate” Meta under the code, which would force the tech company to enter negotiations for payment with news providers, or risk fines of 10% of its Australian revenue.

If that happens then perhaps Meta will do as it did in Canada, simply stop allowing news links on the site(s). That would be bad because:

Publishers have said the effect of a news block would be devastating. Broadsheet – which publishes city, restaurant and entertainment guides – told the committee in a submission it would lose up to 52% of its revenue should news be blocked. The publisher said it “would make it nearly impossible for the business to survive”.

The traffic from Meta is an essential part of the news business plan and ecosystem. Some of us here having worked in the online news industry it’s very much a part of the game to try to craft articles, headlines, that then go viral on social media. Pats on the back ensue from having done it successfully.

So, the actual argument being deployed by the news industry. We make lots of money from Meta sending us traffic but Meta must also pay us for running the articles - our copyright, d’ye see? - which send us lots of luvverly, profitable, traffic.

We do rather expect competent adults to be able to see through this but apparently some governments don’t have any of those.

There is that stated enjoyment of seeing an entire industry having enough brass neck to try it on in this manner. But we’d also make the observation that any government that can’t see through this perhaps doesn’t have enough competent adults to run the water systems, electricity industry and so on - all the things they claim they’ve also got to do.

Tim Worstall