Communication and Information Minister Johnny G. Plate at National Press Day on 8 February stated that the ministry and other institutions are mulling over setting up special rules for press publishers’ rights in order to prevent digital platforms from monopolising the market.

Cited from the press release on the ministry’s website, online media recorded six million readers, while printed media recorded four and a half million readers. Therefore, the media industry is expected to improve the process of publishing to be more efficient. The rise of social media as a trusted source of information could create plenty of issues in the future, such as those related to copyrights, content reproduction rights and publishers’ rights.

Press Council Chairman of Inter-Institutional and International Relations Agus Sudibyo explained several impacts of monopoly by digital platforms, including influencing the public and democracy. He noticed a chain of issues from news monetisation without proper economic compensation, starting from neglect of the copyright of journalistic works to obscure algorithm, monopoly on userdata, monopoly on content distribution and monopoly on digital advertising that will lead to unfair business competition. 

Agus also announced that the Press Council along with the Media Sustainability Task Force is studying regulations from other countries, such as Australia, European countries and the US.

The decision might come in accordance with the News Media Bargaining Code in Australia. The Australian parliament recently passed the code, which requires tech giants, such as Google and Facebook, to pay media companies for displaying news shared on their platform. Google last week signed deals worth millions of dollars with three media companies in Australia.

Facebook initially refused to comply with the terms, stating on its website that the code “would force Facebook to pay news organisations for content that the publishers voluntarily place on our platforms and at a price that ignores the financial value we bring publishers.” Facebook further explained that news represents a fraction of what people see in their News Feed and is not a significant source of revenue for Facebook.

The social media giant blocked Australians from accessing news content on its platform last week. Government pages and information, including health and emergency services, were blocked from the platform as well.

After a week of shockwave, the Australian government on 24 February agreed to make changes to the code and reached a new deal with Facebook. The company is still negotiating deals with Australian media companies.