Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has signed a three-year deal with Facebook, enabling Australian users to access its content through Facebook’s News product.
News Corp is one of Australia’s, and the world’s, largest media conglomerates. It owns many different print and digital titles, including news.com.au, Business Spectator, Australian News Channel, The Australian and Sky News Australia. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
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Last month, Facebook blocked all news content from its Australian platform in response to the controversial News Media Bargaining Code, which is designed to force social media giants to strike deals with news publishers in order to feature their content on their sites.
Along with Australian users being unable to access news on Facebook, the block also accidentally affected government health and emergency pages before access was reinstated.
The news block was in place for a week before being reversed following negotiations with the Australian government over the News Media Bargaining Code, resulting in some changes in the law. The amended law was passed on 25 February.
News Corp has been vocal in its support of the News Media Bargaining Code and has called for social media companies to pay for news content in the past.
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By GlobalDataNews Corp CEO Robert Thomson said that the deal marks “a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism”.
The media giant has also entered into a multi-year partnership with Google meaning that its content from News Corp’s brands will appear on Google’s platform in exchange for “significant payments”.
This follows an agreement reached in October, 2019 in which News Corp publications in the US receive payments in exchange for access to additional stories for Facebook News.
Facebook has said it will invest $1bn in the news industry over the next three years, following in the footsteps of Google which made a similar commitment in October 2020.
Read More: Facebook Australia news block: “This could well be a watershed moment”.
