However, the biggest challenge was that the new code had to first be passed into law. Additionally, unlike Australia, the proposal in the UK has a broader focus: it was intended to shape the behavior of the Big Tech companies and reduce the imbalance of bargaining power across a range of digital markets. Notably, the UK law would differ from other countries because the code would be a set of legally binding obligations for the biggest tech firms. As proposed in other countries, the code would also give the DMU enforcement power to impose binding arbitration to ensure code breaches do not persist for long periods. The code would also establish that in the event of a dispute between a platform and a publisher about the application of a code, the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) would have the role of deciding whether a contract or action by the firm was compliant. The advice was set out in the form of a code of conduct that would mean that Big Tech firms with significant bargaining power would have to agree fair and reasonable terms for the content they use on their platforms. This code identifies a number of ways to do that, such as by addressing concerns about how algorithms work, and which factors are used to determine where different publisher’s content appears in searches, or by providing a framework for fair financial terms for the publisher’s content. Ofcom and CMA argue that “consumers and content providers, including newspapers, could benefit if the bargaining power of the biggest tech firms is properly managed.”
On Friday (May 6), the telecommunication regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority(CMA) published their joint advice to the UK government on how Big Tech companies should arrange “fairer deals” with online publishers in order to use their content.Īs in many other countries around the world, people have turned to online sources for their news, either through social media, search engines or apps provided by Google and Facebook, among other tech firms.
The United Kingdom was about to join a list of countries including Australia, Canada, France and Spain that imposed limits on the negotiations between Big Tech firms and publishers to use news and content on tech platforms, but a change of heart in the UK government may delay this plan at least for a year.