The decision to force Google and Facebook to pay for outside content will have huge global ramifications, both for the tech giants and for media companies, according to Sky News host Chris Kenny. Tech giants will be forced to pay Australian media companies for their content or else they will be ushered into binding arbitration if parties cannot agree within a three-month window. The world-first mandatory code was unveiled by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg today as he complained tech giants Google and Facebook had not made adequate progress towards paying companies for original journalism. Google alone has ripped hundreds and millions of dollars from Australian media companies in recent years and earned $4.3 billion in Australian advertising revenue in 2019. Mr Kenny said the decision is about fairness and protecting media jobs. This means companies like Sky News, News Corp newspapers and our competitors in Nine newspapers and other broadcasters, it means we'll share in some of the revenue the tech giants derive from sharing our content, if all goes well, Mr Kenny said.But that should be good for you, helping to guarantee a vibrant media industry, ensure proper journalism is funded and preventing local companies and jobs from being killed off by the global giants who suck up all the advertising revenue. "People love the services we get from search engines and social media. But this is all about redressing the balance, making sure content providers are paid fairly for what they do, and in the end protecting jobs in the news media.

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Decision to force tech giants to pay for news will have 'significant global ramifications' - Sky News Australia