By Ranjit Singh
MEDIA organisations in the country have approached the Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) in a bid to compel tech giants Facebook and Google to pay them a portion of the advertising revenue derived from using their content.
The Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association (MNPA) has officially written to MyCC regarding the matter.
MNPA chairman Mustapha Kamil Mohd Janor reportedly said it was only asking for a fair share of the advertising revenue that the tech giants had generated using content from media organisations in the country. Mustapha is also Media Prima Bhd’s news and editorial operations executive director.
“For more than 15 years now, both Facebook and Google have been reusing our content that we have invested a lot of our resources in to produce for their financial gains.
“We are only asking for a fair share of the advertising revenue that they generate via our content. This loss of potential revenue has resulted in us having to retrench staff, which has unfortunately affected the livelihood of many Malaysians.
“We hope the Malaysian government will come to the newspaper industry’s aid. This is the time we desperately need every ringgit to remain sustainable,” Mustapha was quoted as saying.
MNPA represents most of the mainstream newspaper publishers in Malaysia, including publishers of the New Straits Times, The Star, The Sun, Borneo Post, The Edge, Berita Harian, Sinar Harian, Sin Chew Daily, China Press, Nanyang Siang Pau, Oriental Daily News, See Hua Daily News and Makkal Osai.
Bloomberg reported on April 21 that the Australian government had drafted the world’s first mandatory code of conduct which will force Google and Facebook to pay media companies in Australia for publishing their news.
The report said the move by the Australian government was to address the imbalance of power between tech giants and traditional media outlets.
In response, Facebook told Reuters it is “disappointed” by the announcement and that it has invested “millions of dollars” to support Australian publishers via partnerships, content arrangement and industry training.
Star Media Group’s CEO, Andreas Vogiatzakis, was quoted as saying that in an era where intellectual property matters the most, it was only fair that media sources were compensated accordingly and appropriately when the news and information generated by them were used for profits by third parties.
“All media organisations in the country, as well as industry bodies such as MNPA and Media Specialist Association (MSA), are endorsing this move, ” he said.
However, he noted that coming up with legislation for such matters would take time. Vogiatzakis also pointed out that the discussion to compel tech giants to pay for news content was not something new as it had been raised before by industry players.
“The move by the Australian government has become a catalyst by putting the spotlight back on the issue and has accelerated the progress, ” he said.
Facebook’s recent financial results for 1Q20 show the company made US$17.7 bil (RM76.95 bil) in revenue, with US$17.4 bil coming from digital advertising. The company said it witnessed a “significant reduction” in demand for advertising, as well as a related decline in the pricing of its ads, over the last three weeks of 1Q20.
That said, after the initial steep decrease in advertising revenue in March, Facebook said it has seen signs of stability reflected in the first three weeks of April, where advertising revenue has been more or less flat compared to the same period a year ago, down from the 17% year-over-year growth in 1Q20. – April 30, 2020
