Australia plans new rules forcing Big Tech to continue paying news outlets

Australia’s centre-left government on Thursday will unveil new rules that could impose fines on Big Tech companies if they refuse to continue to pay Australian media firms for news content hosted on their platforms, local media reported.

Under the proposed new rules, any internet company that refuses to negotiate with publishers or removes news from its platform, as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms did in Canada, would be forced to pay regardless, reports said.