Op-Ed: The U.S. Can’t Afford An Australia-Style Media Bill

This piece was originally published by RealClear Markets on April 10, 2023.

Destructive legislative ideas often take a number of years before they’ve overstayed their welcome in the halls of Congress. Unfortunately, such is the case with the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA). The bill is based on an Australian news media law, which would give traditional media outlets exemptions from existing antitrust laws. This allows them the ability to collectively bargain with tech companies for compensation for sharing of their content. If passed in the United States, JCPA would be a disaster for the economy and online discourse.

JCPA has rightly been rejected a number of times by lawmakers. The bill was first introduced in 2019, having gotten no traction and fizzling by the end of the session. It was again re-introduced in 2021 and passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee after a chaotic markup. The bill again could not get broader support in the full Senate. Sponsors tried a last-ditch effort to get the bill text added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but failed after observers rightly noted how very much unrelated it is to national defense.

In Australia, the bill has had a rocky start. Facebook temporarily pulled all news links off of its platform for Australian users. A separate deal had to be negotiated with the nation’s government to restore access to news on Facebook in Australia. Google warned it would also severely inhibit search results. Ultimately, tech companies had to make tough adjustments and are now paying out roughly $200 million per year to news outlets for sharing their links.

The full article can be found online here.