3 ms·

It really is incredible to me that you think that's an actual solution. The main value Facebook and Google have to news sites isn't access from established rea

by simonh 6y ago

It really is incredible to me that you think that's an actual solution. The main value Facebook and Google have to news sites isn't access from established readers, they will find the content anyway because they already know they want it. The problem is discovery and by and acquisition of new readers. That's the primary value and service social media and search platforms like facebook and google offer in this area. It's why they are primarily adverting platforms, and get most of their revenue from advertising in the first place. News organisations have been free-riding off this for years but are so desperate and entitled they want to charge their advertisers for promoting their content.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
> It really is incredible to me that you think that's an actual solution. Likewise regarding your position. I fall firmly on the side that Big Tech should be heavily regulated, and in some cases broken up. This is simply an extension of that, shifting monetary rewards to those creating content versus platforms extracting all of the financial rewards, throwing scraps to the content (which has a real cost, versus the zero marginal cost advantage platforms have). Google and Facebook have a combined market cap of almost $2.2 trillion dollars and collectively generate over $260 billion a year in revenue. Am I supposed to feel bad for them? I pay for my news content (listed in another comment), and I think they should too (disclaimer: I am not a trillion dollar adtech platform).
- simonh 6y ago
  That's an interesting shift, giving up on defending this law since it's clearly not justifiable, to saying oh well these people deserve it anyway. That's not how laws are supposed to work in a democracy.
  - toomuchtodo 6y ago
    If you don't live in Australia, these aren't your laws to vote for. If you do, your representatives enacted these laws. If you support these laws, congratulations, if you do not, call your representatives or run for office. There are large deltas in electorate sentiment across the world; different democracies will advocate for and legislate different laws. I support the spirit of this legislation (content being compensated for its value on platforms), but also believe these specific corporations deserve it based on their exploitative actions & intent, and resources available to them [1]. My apologies if that wasn't properly communicated throughout my comments. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=regulate+big+tech https://www.google.com/search?q=regulate+big+tech

by simonh 6y ago

toomuchtodo 6y ago

> It really is incredible to me that you think that's an actual solution. Likewise regarding your position. I fall firmly on the side that Big Tech should be heavily regulated, and in some cases broken up. This is simply an extension of that, shifting monetary rewards to those creating content versus platforms extracting all of the financial rewards, throwing scraps to the content (which has a real cost, versus the zero marginal cost advantage platforms have). Google and Facebook have a combined market cap of almost $2.2 trillion dollars and collectively generate over $260 billion a year in revenue. Am I supposed to feel bad for them? I pay for my news content (listed in another comment), and I think they should too (disclaimer: I am not a trillion dollar adtech platform).

simonh 6y ago
That's an interesting shift, giving up on defending this law since it's clearly not justifiable, to saying oh well these people deserve it anyway. That's not how laws are supposed to work in a democracy.
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  If you don't live in Australia, these aren't your laws to vote for. If you do, your representatives enacted these laws. If you support these laws, congratulations, if you do not, call your representatives or run for office. There are large deltas in electorate sentiment across the world; different democracies will advocate for and legislate different laws. I support the spirit of this legislation (content being compensated for its value on platforms), but also believe these specific corporations deserve it based on their exploitative actions & intent, and resources available to them [1]. My apologies if that wasn't properly communicated throughout my comments. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=regulate+big+tech https://www.google.com/search?q=regulate+big+tech