Heaptalk, Jakarta — Meta provided its official response to Publisher Rights as the latest Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No.32 2023 regarding the Responsibility of Digital Platform Companies to Support Quality Journalism. Mark Zuckerberg’s company emphasized that management will not be required to pay for news content voluntarily posted to their platforms.
“After several rounds of consultations with the government, we understand that Meta will not be required to pay for news content that publishers voluntarily publish to our platform,” affirmed Meta’s Director of Public Policy in Southeast Asia, Rafael Frankel, as cited in Reuters. (02/23)
Meta claimed that more than 90% of organic views on article links from news publishers come from links that press companies posted, indicating the significance of Meta’s services for media companies to boost their audience reach. Even though the archipelago’s government released the policy, Meta continues to cooperate with multiple national press companies in the form of their former collaboration scheme to improve Indonesia’s news ecosystem.
Meta also highlighted some of the sustainability affiliations with local news publishers had been held through fact-checking programs from third parties and WhatsApp channels, which is expected to expand the audience comprehensively. With its services, Meta emphasized its party has been stead for news media to voluntarily spread their content on Meta’s platforms (Instagram and Facebook). The behemoth tech company also claimed content distribution is the news publishers’ initiative that has gained good traffic on their site from complimentary content distribution.
Nevertheless, Meta’s management comprehended the regulations issued by the Indonesian Government. “We appreciate the progress that policymakers have made in ensuring that the Publisher Rights Regulations have the benefits that news publishers will obtain from our services,” Frankel said in his statement.
This week, President Jokowi issued the Publisher Rights Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 32 2024 concerning the Responsibilities of Digital Platform Companies to support quality journalism by ensuring balanced reciprocity regarding economic value from digital platforms to local and national media.
“After a lengthy consideration, I finally signed the Presidential Regulation on the Responsibility of (Corporate) Digital Platforms to bolster quality journalism, generally known as the Presidential Decree on Publisher Rights,” affirmed Indonesia’s President during the National Press Day event.
Previously, several countries have arranged their own Online News Laws. Recently, Canada has agreed with Google to implement Publisher Rights regulations, Bill C-18. On the other hand, Europe has also released this law, generally called Neighboring Rights. In March 2021, Australia also stipulated its New Media Bargaining Code policy.
Meanwhile, responding to the Publisher Rights of Indonesia, Google voiced to delve into the detailed regulation, particularly about the obligation to cooperate with digital platforms and media companies to present news and diverse perspectives without prejudice and bias by ensuring public access to various and balanced news sources.
