Meta accused of winning big from struggling media organisations

It opposes a new rule that would give media organisations more negotiating power when setting prices for Facebook-shared content. According to Meta, their platform actually boosts traffic to failing news organisations.

Publishers post their content to Facebook because, according to the article, “it benefits their bottom line.” Media companies contend that news stories published on Meta earn enormous sums of money.

During the pandemic, local news especially struggled while Meta made enormous profits. Meta counters that this story is untrue. Instead, it asserts, Meta promotes news sources.

A representative for Meta, Andy Stone, stated: “If Congress passes an ill-considered journalism bill as part of national security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news from our platform altogether”.

Additionally, Meta contends that a little portion of Facebook’s revenue comes from news sharing.

The US legislation is a component of a bigger body of regulations designed to counter Big Tech’s hegemony.

According to Matt Stoller, Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project, Meta is “eating alive” media organisations. He claimed that Meta’s attempts to extort Congress “show once more why this monopoly is a threat to democracies throughout the world.”