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Appreciate IT Minister's statement, hopeful of publishers getting a fair share in revenue from tech firms soon, says DNPA

Reacting to Information and Technology minister Ashwani Vaishnaw's statement on the need for social media platforms to give a fair share of revenue to publishers, the Digital News Publishers Association has said it will provide any support and engagement required for strengthening digital news ecosystem in India

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Appreciate IT Minister's statement, hopeful of publishers getting a fair share in revenue from tech firms soon, says DNPA

Ashwani Vaishnaw

Telecom and IT Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw had recently said that the government was moving in the direction where publishers and content creators can be provided a fair share in revenue by social media platforms. The minister was speaking at Agenda Aaj Tak.

Reacting to Vaishnaw's statement, the Digital News Publishers Association, the industry association that counts the digital arms of traditional media houses as its members, has said that it is supportive of all efforts being made by the government to support independent journalism being done in India by certified journalists of media houses and the association was willing to engage for strengthening of the digital ecosystem so that content creators/publishers get a fair share in the revenue.

The DNPA said that Vaishnaw is keeping pace with the global correction that is taking place and the change was visible across the globe. 

Recently, Bhartiya Janata Party MP Sushil Modi had also raised the issue in Parliament where he had said that domestic publishers should get a fair share in revenue from social media platforms.

Across the world, publishers and governments are forcing technology firms and social media platforms to share revenue with content creators and publishers.

In India too, the clamour for the same is growing. DNPA has been taking up the issue the government on regular basis.

Currently, almost 80% of India's total digital adex is cornered by Google and Facebook.

The media houses that create most the of the news content that draws traction for social media firms get very little from the social platforms.

In Australia, Google and others have already agreed to share a part of their revenue with publishers.

Google announced Seven West - which runs a number of Australia's biggest TV channels and newspapers - was the first major news publisher in Australia to join its Showcase platform, through which users can access paywalled content for free, with the tech giant covering the costs. The deal is worth a reported $30 million.

Australia’s biggest locally-owned media company, Nine Entertainment, has signed a deal with Google worth a reported $30m a year to feature its news in Google products, on the eve of the historic news media laws being debated in parliament.

These were followed by global agreement with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which along with Nine lobbied the government to pass the bill.

Another small media company, Junkee Media, has also signed a letter of intent to curate news content for Google’s News Showcase product.

The Australian law will almost assuredly inspire similar legislation around the world as governments reckon with rapidly changing media environments.

Ministers in the UK and EU have cited Australia's example as inspiration for potential future legislation.

France already has already implemented an EU copyright law with aims similar to the Code which Australia implemented.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he intends to "ensure the revenues of web giants are shared more fairly with creators and media."

Google launched program paying for news in Canada with 11 publishers in October 2021. Ultimately, Canada's publishers expect the tech giants will be persuaded to pay the equivalent of 30% of their annual newsroom cost. Canadian publishers are anticipating annual payments worth a total of USD 78-117m from Google and Facebook.

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IT Minister DNPA Ashwani Vaishnaw
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