Home featured Source: Unsplash Digital Featured News Digital Google and Facebook challenge news bargaining code in Senate inquiry Dahlia Jovic January 23, 2021 Facebook and Google took Australian media head-on in a Senate inquiry by Australia’s competition watchdog on Friday, 22nd January. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) pushed for a new Bill to be passed to force the tech giants to pay news publishers for their content, including any links and snippets hosted on their platforms. The Australian Government proposed the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code in April last year. The Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in December, aims “to address bargaining power imbalances between Australian news media businesses and digital platforms.” News Corp executive Campbell Reid said the Bill was necessary to tackle the “urgent problem” of sustainable journalism in the digital age. Despite a surge in audience numbers during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the revenue of Australian media outlets has steadily declined over the years with many blaming the market dominance of foreign digital platforms. “Australia will not be the first country that seeks to hold the digital giants to account and regulate payment for content,” Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian last year. “It is only fair that the search ­engines and social media giants pay for the original news content that they use to drive traffic to their sites.” “We are not seeking to protect traditional media companies from the rigour of competition or technological disruption – rather, to create