{"id":253080,"date":"2023-07-22T21:16:23","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T15:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=253080"},"modified":"2023-08-31T11:05:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T05:35:43","slug":"publisher-platform-imbalances-need-fixing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/publisher-platform-imbalances-need-fixing\/","title":{"rendered":"Publisher-platform imbalances need fixing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cPublisher-platform imbalances need fixing\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d <\/strong>on 22nd July 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Governance<\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/strong> Regulation of digital news media<\/p>\n

News- <\/strong>The article explains the disadvantages faced by news publishers on technology platforms and the approach of various countries to regulate the interaction between them.<\/p>\n

What are issues faced by news publishers on technology platforms?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Absence of Fair Valuation<\/strong>– Digital advertising revenues <\/strong>are the result of a collaborative effort <\/strong>between publishers and platforms. Publishers don’t get a fair proportion of these revenues that stem from their journalism.<\/p>\n

There are concerns related to reliance of publishers on platforms<\/strong>. These platforms often operate under monopolistic or duopolistic conditions. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This dependence arises due to platforms taking on various roles in digital news markets<\/strong>. They act as intermediaries<\/strong> in the search for online news content and provide the necessary infrastructure for publishers<\/strong> to engage in the online advertising market.<\/p>\n

Enumerative Accountability<\/strong>– Platforms unilaterally define the measures of the quality and popularity<\/strong> of online news. They arbitrarily change measures to suit their own priorities.<\/p>\n

Further, they refuse to share relevant data on advertising and viewership<\/strong> with stakeholders in the news economy.<\/p>\n

What are approaches followed by countries across the world to regulate the relationship between digital platforms and publishers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2021, Australia proposed a mechanism to govern the interaction between publishers and platforms<\/strong>. But the platforms retaliated.<\/p>\n

Facebook blocked its Australian users from accessing thousands of news sites, which included vital sources of public information<\/strong>. Ultimately, the Australian government provided some concessions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, Canada\u2019s Online News Act<\/strong> provided for fair compensation<\/strong> for publishers and the sustainability of local news<\/strong>. The United Kingdom is planning to introduce legislation<\/strong> to regulate the relationship <\/strong>between big tech and news outlets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brazil and South Africa are also taking steps in that direction. Indonesia has proposed Digital Platform Responsibilities for Quality Journalism<\/strong>. The United States has not taken any action.<\/p>\n

What is the importance of these regulations?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The primary objective is to guarantee that news outlets receive a just portion of digital advertising revenues<\/strong> and have access to the data<\/strong> generated by platforms through the sale and distribution<\/strong> of online news.<\/p>\n

Without these measures, news publishers may be compelled to accept unfair and potentially unsustainable terms <\/strong>set by platforms.<\/p>\n

This could lead to a reluctance to invest in producing high-quality journalism and on-the-ground reporting.<\/strong> It will result in an increasing presence of propagators of misinformation and disinformation<\/strong> in the digital public sphere.<\/p>\n

What is the Indian government approach in this regard?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, India has been slow in thinking and acting<\/strong> on mitigating these twin imbalances.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In December 2021, the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology said that the government has no intention to make big tech pay for news.<\/p>\n

He has revised his positions and now acknowledges the disadvantages faced by news publishers in their dealings with platforms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2021, the Digital News Publishers Associatio<\/strong>n had filed a plea against Google in the Competition Commission of India. It accused Google of unfairly valuing their digital advertising share<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In February 2022, The Indian Newspaper Society (INS)<\/strong> filed a similar plea. It also highlighted Google\u2019s search results are not based on the relevance of news content<\/strong>. So, it creates an uneven playing field<\/strong> among various publishers.<\/p>\n

The report issued by the Standing Committee on Finance in December 2022<\/strong>, titled ‘Anti-Competitive Practices by Big Tech Companies,’ <\/strong>mirrored the concerns raised by the DNPA and the INS.<\/p>\n

It emphasised that certain digital markets are susceptible to domination <\/strong>by only one or two major players. It made recommendations for evaluating competitive behaviour <\/strong>before digital markets become monopolised. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cPublisher-platform imbalances need fixing\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 22nd July 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Governance Relevance: Regulation of digital news media News- The article explains the disadvantages faced by news publishers on technology platforms and the approach of various countries to regulate the interaction between them. What… Continue reading Publisher-platform imbalances need fixing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[300,212,10498],"class_list":["post-253080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-governance","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253080\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}