Google and Meta fight off the Congress revenue sharing bill

The revenue sharing bill presented by the US Congress comes to an end after an open fight between Meta and Google. The bill was named the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA)”. The bill sought to recoup web links from publishers. The bill could have provided an opportunity to adjust the earning agreement for already published articles on the websites.

The current issue is not being considered by tech companies because it may result in higher earning potential for publishers. Meta is clearly restraining the bill and has threatened to remove news from websites if the bill gets passed.

Google and Meta, both companies, are in disagreement over the idea of sharing the earnings. Google has signed a similar agreement in France to establish a strong base against the US Congress. However, only these are the companies that are against the bill.

Other tech companies join Google and Meta in opposing the congressional revenue bill.

Against the agenda, many groups are being created on an industrial level. NetChoice and CCIA (Computer and Communication Industry Association) are the groups. Both companies have clearly threatened to launch campaigns against the JCPA bill.

These companies are at the top of their respective industries, and taking action against the bill will be disastrous. However, a question here is: why would these companies go this far over a small revenue from news articles?

The bill will establish a “cartel-like entity” among publishers, summarizes Meta. The company continued by saying that the measure would make people pay for news they do not want to see. According to other businesses, the measure might compel these internet companies to carry news against their will, which would encourage partisan media coverage.

The fact that this legislation would favor big publishing houses while neglecting smaller ones is another source of worry. A few publishers are in favor of this legislation becoming law. However, the latest turn of events has turned off their hopes of increasing their ad revenue.