US tech major Google has rallied against SA’s Competition Commission’s recommendation that it should pay local media houses R500m a year for the imbalance it has allegedly caused in the market.
The company says such a policy would have the effect of taking away freedom of choice from news consumers online.
The Silicon Valley giant is no stranger to controversy and the ire of policymakers, having been under the microscope in the US, Europe and Australia, to name a few, for a range of matters from data protection, antitrust and market dominance.
In SA, the story is no different.
The commission released a provisional report in February recommending that Google compensate the media industry to the value of R300m-R500m annually for a three- to five-year period. That could boost SA’s ailing traditional media houses, whose revenues have dried up over the past decade due to the rise of technology platforms and shifting consumer behaviour.
In response to this, Google’s Charles Murito said: “The Competition Commission seeks to resurrect outdated business models and make Google financially responsible for the consumer change. It also recommends far-reaching changes to our products, nudges people to consume selected media and more.”
The inquiry, initiated in October 2023, was designed to examine the effects of digital platforms such as X, Facebook and Google on the distribution and monetisation of media content and whether they used anticompetitive or harmful practices that needed to be addressed.
Other remedies to address the imbalance are the removal of search bias in favour of foreign media and YouTube and the promotion of vernacular and community media.
“The commission’s recommendations represent a significant threat to how South Africans discover and consume information online. In today's digital world, citizens expect unfettered access to diverse news sources that provide multiple perspectives on local and global events. The proposed regulations would fundamentally alter this experience,” said Murito.
“The alterations to Google Discover, such as prioritising selected SA news media at the expense of international publications, would similarly undermine user experience by prioritising certain content based on regulatory mandates rather than relevance or user interest. This approach doesn't just compromise product quality, it denies SA users the same access to information enjoyed by users elsewhere.”
It had been expected that local authorities would face challenges in enforcing these rules against Big Tech if they come into effect, following Meta and Google’s decision to remove links and block news-related content to avoid paying media companies in places such as Canada and California.
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