While the Albanese Government decides whether to strong-arm Meta into handing over tens of millions to Australian publishers, Google has been quietly renewing media deals with a number of smaller publishers – but with a caveat.
According to the AFR, Google has re-committed to funding agreements with News Corp following a three-year deal, as well as regional newspaper arm Times News Group, Solstice Media, Crikey, The Conversation, Women’s Agenda, and Independent Media.
These deals will only be for one year, with Google reportedly inserting a clause which allows them to cancel the deal after one year.
Seven and Nine initially struck five-year deals with Google, which expire in May 2026. The smaller publishers originally signed three-year agreements.
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Google’s director of government affairs, Lucinda Longcroft, told the AFR: “Over the past three years, we’ve furthered our significant contribution to the Australian news industry by signing commercial agreements with more than 80 Australian news businesses, representing more than 200 outlets across the country.”
This comes as Nine, Seven, and News Corp have all announced newsroom redundancies which they have credited to the drying up of payments made to them by Meta under the News Media Bargaining Code in exchange for using their news content.
A Meta spokesperson told Mumbrella earlier this month they aren’t opposed to striking a new deal.
“At the moment all options are on the table,” Meta said, adding that they never said they were ‘axing’ news but are “exploring all options” regarding serving news on their platform.
“We hope the government sees the many benefits our free services provide to publishers, including small and independent publishers, and we’ll continue to engage with the government on this topic.”
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