Enact Law Just Like Australia To Make Google, Facebook Pay For News, Sushil Modi Demands In Rajya Sabha

Sushil Kumar Modi raised the issue Rajya Sabha earlier in the day through a Zero Hour mention demanding that government must make Google, Facebook and YouTube pay print and news channels for the news content they are using freely.

Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi in Rajya Sabha. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday demanded that like Australia, India should also enact a law which makes technology majors such as Google and Facebook pay local publishers of news content.

Sushil Kumar Modi raised the issue Rajya Sabha earlier in the day through a Zero Hour mention demanding that government must make Google, Facebook and YouTube pay print and news channels for the news content they are using freely. 

"The Indian government should take a cue from the Australian parliament that passed the world's first law last month to ensure news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate," news agency PTI quoted the leader saying in the Upper House.

"I would urge the government of India that the way they have notified Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code to regulate social media and OTT platforms, they should enact a law on the pattern of Australian Code so that we can compel Google to share its revenue with traditional media," he added.

Government of India should lead from the front in bringing regulation to make such tech giants pay a fair share of their earnings from domestically produced news content on the internet to the publishers just like Australia. As per reports, Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu remarked that the suggestion is "worth considering".

The senior BJP leader pointed out that traditional print and news broadcast media of the country, are undergoing a tough phase as advertisements have now shift to tech platforms and even media's content is freely available on platforms run by these companies.

"They are in deep financial crisis. Earlier, it was because of the pandemic and now it is because of tech giants like YouTube, Facebook and Google," Modi said.

He also highlighted the fact that Australia has set a precedence and now France and other European countries are making laws for advertisement revenue sharing.

(With inputs from PTI)