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News Corp reaches three-year content deal with Facebook

Economy
16 March 2021 12:00 (AEST)

News Corp's executive chairman Rupert Murdoch. Source: ABC.

News Corp has reached a three-year content deal with Facebook, declaring a victory in the battle over between publishers and big tech.

The deal follows a law that was passed last month in Australia which requires Facebook and fellow Silicon Valley behemoth Google to pay media companies for using their content.

The decision by the Australian Government has drawn global attention — due in part to Facebook’s decision to briefly remove Australian news content from its platform. With the law now in place, other countries like Canada and Britain are considering similar measures.

“The agreement with Facebook is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses,” said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp.

“Mark Zuckerberg and his team deserve credit for their role in helping to fashion a future for journalism, which has been under extreme duress for more than a decade.”

Unveiled on Monday, the agreement involves News Corp’s national newspaper The Australian, as well as several other metropolitan papers, such as The Daily Telegraph in New South Wales.

Sky News Australia has also reached a deal with Facebook.

While no financial details were disclosed, the deal builds on an earlier one that was signed in October 2019, under which Facebook paid News Corp’s U.S. publications for access to additional stories to Facebook News.

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