Big social media platforms make billions of dollars by attaching advertising to content sought by users. It’s a bonanza regarding news, because the platforms simply provide news content to users without paying for it. That leaves to news organizations (yes, including this one) the substantial costs of gathering and publishing news.

Australia implemented the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, that requires the digital platforms to negotiate compensation for news organizations when relevant content appears with the platform’s paid ad content. So far, that has resulted in about $150 million for Australian newsrooms.

Big platforms such as Google and Meta’s Facebook initially responded to the law by penalizing their own users — blocking all news content. They soon relented due to user demand.

Now, the Canadian parliament and California’s legislature have introduced similar bills to force the platforms to pay for news content.

The California Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would enable news publishes in that state to bargain, collectively, with the digital platforms for fair compensation for news content.

That mirrors a bill that Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota introduced in 2022, but which failed to gain traction in the face of fierce lobbying by the social media giants.

Klobuchar said she will introduce the bill anew in the current Congress.

Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman should join that effort. Fairly compensating companies for their products is not radical, it’s business.

— Tribune News Service