[shakna]

The same idea, but somehow even worse. As well as the companies the law applies to having to pay people who have asked them to index and promote their websites...

a) The Minister will name a series of companies they deem the law will apply to, and it applies only to them. (Currently only Google & Facebook. The Minister recently spoke with Microsoft and decided not to add Bing to their hitlist.) The Minister can change this at any time, without Parliamentary oversight.

b) The companies it applies to have to both reveal the inner workings of their algorithms to selected news companies, and give 14 days notice of any changes that will happen.

c) The companies it applies to are not allowed to stop indexing or showing news content. They can't decide not to do business unless they stop being a business altogether.

d) The companies that will be paid under this scheme are selected by the Minister, and can change at any time without Parliamentary oversight. So it will have a net zero effect on independent journalism.

[ollo]

Yes, this sounds even worse. Letting the government decide which company has to pay is definitely not fair. The government could target some companies it does not like and let other pro-government companies out of this law. Honestly it looks as if this law was written directly by mass media lobbyists. It is unfortunate that this kind of anti-democratic regulation is being passed all over the world nowadays, it is as if corporate lobbying is stronger than the common interest.