The Wire

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released a draft mandatory code of conduct to make multinational digital technology platforms including Facebook and Google accountable in compensating and remunerating Australian news media companies for distributing their content for free.

While seen as an overdue step, concerns still linger on the survival and economic viability of public interest journalism as many metropolitan and regional broadcasters and newspaper mastheads face staffing cuts and temporary or permanent closure of their newsrooms.

Consultation on the draft code will remain open until Monday August 31st, 2020.