The fake news bill, which is being urgently debated in the Chamber of Deputies, has sparked heated discussions between tech companies and journalists. One of the main controversies concerns the mandatory payment of journalistic companies by platforms using their news content. Nevertheless, Google proposes ‘journalism innovation fund’ as alternative to bill’s pay model for journalists.

The company believes the current proposal could be detrimental to journalism production in the country as it hinders innovation and makes it harder to combat misinformation created by “alleged journalistic sources.” The most recent text circulating in Congress is having an impact on the business model of both large technology companies, as social media companies are called, and journalistic vehicles and review agencies.

The Fake News Bill also provides new guidelines for social media for children and teens, broadcast news, disseminate false content, and promote campaign and political content. Google says it shares the goal of fighting disinformation, but believes the current text under discussion jeopardizes investment in strengthening journalism in the process as it creates “unprecedented commitments for platforms.”

For the company, creating an “innovation fund for journalism” would be a way to promote quality journalism production and innovation without compromising the business ecosystem of the platforms. The initiative will operate as an investment fund for innovative journalism projects to support the production of quality content and combat disinformation. No further details about how this fund will be structured and funded have yet to be released.

Google’s proposal has been viewed with caution by some newspaper companies, who believe platform rewards are fair and necessary to keep the sector sustainable. However, other companies welcome the opportunity for innovation and support for independent journalism.

The debate around the fake news bill is still heated and promises to generate a lot of discussion in the coming days. Meanwhile, Google offers an alternative that seeks to reconcile the interests of technology companies and journalists by promoting innovation and fighting disinformation together.

how it should work

“The ability to freely search and access pages on the Internet is directly affected by the offer, which sets the prices for links in search engines and news aggregators.“, the company said in a note, highlighting concerns about the negative impact on the exchange of value between platforms and news media.

Google proposes that the bill recognize existing investments in the Brazilian news ecosystem and encourage innovative models that support journalism through products, programs and content licensing. The company advocates for an innovative journalism fund backed by technology companies and independently managed so that the proposed model does not favor certain vehicles or certain groups.

While fact-checking groups emphasize that regulation fails to reduce disinformation, a coalition of 11 organizations representing the communications sector and journalistic organizations have come out in defense of Fake News PL. According to the associations, the proposal sees journalism as an antidote to the negative effects of disinformation and hate speech online.

Under the leadership of MP Orlando Silva (PCdoB-SP), the project under discussion was called the opposition to the government “PL da Censura”. While some defend the new rules for social media as a way to control critical content and fake news, others argue that it is about censorship and the end of personal freedom. One of the issues raised by the group is the bill’s lack of criteria to define what would be “professional journalism” capable of receiving remuneration from the platforms. Agencies are also considered a form of journalistic production.

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Source: Estadão

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