Will Facebook, Google stop NEWS?

World is witnessing a great war between the internet Mughals and the news providers all over the world. This conflict can affect the quality and sanctity of News we consume daily. Facebook was invented as a casual chatting platform where people used to interact with friends, families but now Facebook and similar internet companies has become important source of news for all. So what will happen if these companies will stop the news on their platform? Facebook had almost stopped the news content in one country recently. Today we will see what exactly this conflict is? Why the media houses and internet companies are fighting? We are already living in the Internet era. Where internet is the source we use for each and every content we want. Even if we want to see a dog’s video or if we want to get latest news we go to the internet. Memes, reels is the new reality. But have you ever paid to Facebook, google fir using them? No… because we think they are free. But to run these huge organizations they need revenue. So have you ever thought from where these companies have generated such huge revenues from? what exactly they sell? How they earn? The answer is, they sell your very own confidential data. They sell your time by showing you ads related to your interests. So now you will know how Facebook shows what you want? So next time be aware that the ads are giving a humongous revenue to these companies who sells your information and time. This revenue is the central point of conflict between these two parties. When we visit any news channel’s Facebook page for getting news we see ads and that advertisement generates revenue this revenue is then divided between Facebook and the news provider but the divide is so uneven that almost all the revenue goes to the Facebook and only a small portion is given to the media houses who generates news. According to news providers, they are the people who find the news and provide to the people. The news content is their content. So they should get a good share in the profits generated by their news. So when Facebook generates almost all revenue from news it takes away the revenue of media houses. If this goes on the journalism, it will meet its end very soon, according to the news providers. Where as the internet companies are agreeing that the content can be the media house’s property but they are the one who take these content to the people, they are the one’s taking people closer to the content. So they should get all the revenue, the revenue is theirs’s only. According to Facebook they are not inviting or forcing media houses on their platform in fact the media houses uses these platforms and get huge traffic on their own pages which in turn popularize the media house and generate their revenue. As we see, today, the revenue of newspapers and TV news is mostly shifting online. People are using internet to find news. But this online revenue generated on the sites of local publishers for example ABP, TV9, AAJ TAK, BBC, LOKMAT, SAKAL, LOKSATTA is very negligible it can’t even stand in front of these huge internet companies. Companies like Facebook, google, YouTube are ruling the online world currently. Previously when news paper used to get advertisement the revenue generated was given to the newspaper only but now the times have changed when a viewer watches an ad on the newspaper’s social media handle the revenue generated is given to the internet companies only. So the newspaper are becoming powerless day by day. “Companies like Google, Facebook, YouTube are so huge that they almost have a unchallenged rule over the market. So we all are compelled to accept whatever rates they give to us. They almost have monopoly in this sector.” – Shekhar Gupta ( The former President Of Editor’s Guild of India).If the smaller news agencies and their revenue is looted like this how can local news agencies survive? They will be wiped out automatically from the markets. The people related to journalism are having fear of loosing the essence of true journalism these days .News agencies and their survival is directly connected to the prosperity of society, country and democracy. So if this media houses will be finished the social fabric will get disturbed. Now the question is’ What will happen if the Facebook and google stop giving the news?’ This problem is our reality but can we find any solution on it? or is there a solution to this? If we see honestly we have not yet found the solution but one country has taken firm steps towards this. In fact Australia have formed a law “New Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code bill 2020” which says the revenue generated by the news content should be divided fairly, which compels these internet companies to share the revenue with media houses on equal or fair basis in exchange of news they get. This seems so easy and simple when we say that the manufacturer and the marketer should get the revenue equally but this is not that easy in fact Facebook and google has out rightly rejected to share the revenue and this law. In response to the Australian government Facebook banned the news content on their platform for two days in Australia. This ‘News Blackout’ became hugely popular. Now they have again resumed the news but they indicated what they can do if they are made to follow this law. On the other hand Google have also warned the Australian government that if this law is enforced they will stop their operations in the country. This feels so contrasting because recently google has made and agreement with Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp, for their exclusive content. Google have also agreed to pay some newspapers in France for the news. The funny thing is, this agreement happened before few hours of the warning to the Australian government.’ Revenue sharing’ is not a big issue for these companies but the sharing of revenue means sharing of power with these media houses. This power is the power of influencing people’s mind and till today this power is owned by these internet Mughals. Which in turn is making the media organizations weak and which can harm the democracies. THE INDIAN PERSPECTIVE,”WILL FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE DARE TO STOPNEWS IN INDIA? “The recent conflicts between Indian government and companies like twitter, Facebook have given rise to the talks of regulating these platforms and their revenues in India. When the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison spoke to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ever phone this issue of uniting against the se internet companies was primarily discussed. Now the question which arise is, “Will the Indian government take any step towards this issue?” There is no official policy that has come out till date.

Ashay Yedge