Australia’s laws forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news are ready to take effect. However, the architect of the laws has said that it will take time for the digital giants to strike media deals. On Thursday, the Australian Parliament passed amendments to the News Media Bargaining Code agreed between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday. 

In return for the changes, Facebook agreed to lift a ban on Australians accessing and sharing news. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman Rod Sims, the competition regulator who drafted the code, said that he was happy that the amended legislation would address the market imbalance between Australian news publishers and the two gateways to the internet. “All signs are good,” Mr Sims told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “The purpose of the code is to address the market power that clearly Google and Facebook have. Google and Facebook need media, but they don’t need any particular media company, and that meant media companies couldn’t do commercial deals,” Mr Sims added.

The rest of the laws had been passed earlier, so they can now be implemented. Google has already struck deals with major Australian news businesses in recent weeks, including News Corp and Seven West Media. Mr Frydenberg said that he was pleased to see progress by Google and more recently Facebook in reaching commercial deals with Australian news businesses. But Country Press Australia, which represents 161 regional newspapers across the country, has raised concerns that tiny publications outside large cities might miss out. 

Mr Sims said that he was not surprised that the platforms would strike deals with the large city businesses first. “I don’t see any reason why anybody should doubt that all journalism will benefit. There things take time. Google and Facebook don’t have unlimited resources to go around talking to everybody. I think this has got a long way to play out,” added Mr Sims. Chris Moos, a lecturer at Oxford University’s Business School, said that the latest amendments amounted to a “small victory” for Mr Zuckerberg.