News media and digital platforms:Recent developments to promote competition and fair-trade practices overseas

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News media and digital platforms:Recent developments to promote competition and fair-trade practices overseas(2024.12)

Claudio Lombardi(Doctor, The University of Aberdeen School of Law)

Masako Wakui(Professor, Kyoto University Graduate School of Law and Visiting Researcher of the Competition Policy Research Center)

Abstract	File （PDF)
The way people access news has evolved from being mainly through mass media such as newspapers and television towards news portals, search engines and other search services assisted by generative AI, which are operated by digital platforms (DPFs). The practices and actions of DPFs have a significant impact on the revenues of news media companies, the way articles are presented (including ranking , editing, etc.), data acquisition, relationships with subscribers and advertisers, as well as brand recognition. This paper focuses on issues surrounding revenue and payment and examines possible solutions referring to the law and policy measures taken abroad. Australia and Canada have established special legal rules and adopted the system that ultimately sets appropriate conditions through a final proposal arbitration system. They also allow for the exemption where it is confirmed that sufficient payments are made. These have led to voluntary payment of a substantial amount from DPFs. On the other hand, the EU and its member states have revised their copyright law rules to grant neighbouring rights to news publishers and impose obligations on the DPFs to negotiate the payment of appropriate remuneration and to ensure transparency. In France, Google, which had violated these obligations, was found to be in breach of competition law, and the commitment procedure has been used to clarify what actions should and should not be taken to ensure compliance with the copyright rules. Meanwhile, in Germany, a copyright collective management organisation is trying to effectuate such rights through an arbitration system established by the intellectual property tribunal. In the EU, the Digital Markets Act also stipulates that certain DPFs, which are designated as gatekeepers, are subject to transparency and other obligations. In the US, there have been a number of bills introduced in Congress, although none of these have been passed yet. The above-mentioned countries and Japan face the same or similar urgent issue and it is imminent for Japan to contemplate the measure that will protect journalism in the age of platforms and AI. The principles and enforcement systems of competition and intellectual property laws differ from country to country and the same measures cannot be implemented in Japan; yet, referring to measures abroad will inform Japan as to what measures can be taken as well as the limitations of such measures. Notably. the amount paid to news organisations remains relatively small, and it is yet to be seen whether such measures will ensure the long-term sustainability of journalism. Furthermore, societal and political issues such as the ‘eco-chamber’ problem would remain even with these measures. Given these, the government and policymakers should consider various solutions to ensure the right to information, which include, but are not limited to, legal measures to deal with false or deceptive information such as deepfakes and identity theft, laws and policies to enhance the transparency of political process as well as business organisations with economic power, financial and other public support for journalists and news media organisations and education.	CPDP98-J(5,255 KB)

Abstract

File （PDF)

The way people access news has evolved from being mainly through mass media such as newspapers and television towards news portals, search engines and other search services assisted by generative AI, which are operated by digital platforms (DPFs). The practices and actions of DPFs have a significant impact on the revenues of news media companies, the way articles are presented (including ranking , editing, etc.), data acquisition, relationships with subscribers and advertisers, as well as brand recognition. This paper focuses on issues surrounding revenue and payment and examines possible solutions referring to the law and policy measures taken abroad.
Australia and Canada have established special legal rules and adopted the system that ultimately sets appropriate conditions through a final proposal arbitration system. They also allow for the exemption where it is confirmed that sufficient payments are made. These have led to voluntary payment of a substantial amount from DPFs. On the other hand, the EU and its member states have revised their copyright law rules to grant neighbouring rights to news publishers and impose obligations on the DPFs to negotiate the payment of appropriate remuneration and to ensure transparency. In France, Google, which had violated these obligations, was found to be in breach of competition law, and the commitment procedure has been used to clarify what actions should and should not be taken to ensure compliance with the copyright rules. Meanwhile, in Germany, a copyright collective management organisation is trying to effectuate such rights through an arbitration system established by the intellectual property tribunal. In the EU, the Digital Markets Act also stipulates that certain DPFs, which are designated as gatekeepers, are subject to transparency and other obligations. In the US, there have been a number of bills introduced in Congress, although none of these have been passed yet.
The above-mentioned countries and Japan face the same or similar urgent issue and it is imminent for Japan to contemplate the measure that will protect journalism in the age of platforms and AI. The principles and enforcement systems of competition and intellectual property laws differ from country to country and the same measures cannot be implemented in Japan; yet, referring to measures abroad will inform Japan as to what measures can be taken as well as the limitations of such measures. Notably. the amount paid to news organisations remains relatively small, and it is yet to be seen whether such measures will ensure the long-term sustainability of journalism. Furthermore, societal and political issues such as the ‘eco-chamber’ problem would remain even with these measures. Given these, the government and policymakers should consider various solutions to ensure the right to information, which include, but are not limited to, legal measures to deal with false or deceptive information such as deepfakes and identity theft, laws and policies to enhance the transparency of political process as well as business organisations with economic power, financial and other public support for journalists and news media organisations and education.

CPDP98-J

(5,255 KB)