South African Regulator Pushes for $27M Annual Compensation from Google, Meta for Local News Publishers

South Africa’s Competition Commission is calling on global tech giants like Google, Meta, and X (formerly Twitter) to compensate local news publishers for their content. The regulatory body has proposed that Google alone should pay South African media companies between R300 million ($16.3 million) and R500 million ($27 million) annually over a three-to-five-year period to support the struggling news industry.

The proposal is part of broader efforts to address revenue declines faced by local media companies as digital platforms dominate the advertising market. The Commission argues that while platforms benefit from news content, they provide little to no financial support to the publishers creating it.

Key Recommendations and Industry Impact

• Increased Monetization on YouTube: The Commission has recommended that YouTube boost monetization opportunities for media companies and broadcasters, including the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), by increasing the revenue share to 70% and prioritizing higher-value direct sales by publishers.
• Regulating Digital Platforms: The watchdog accuses Meta and X of deliberately reducing the visibility of news content on their platforms, resulting in decreased referral traffic to local media outlets. This decline has further exacerbated financial struggles for South African publishers.
• Collective Bargaining with AI Firms: The Commission also recommends that South African news publishers be allowed to negotiate collectively with AI firms over the use of their content for training purposes. This aligns with global concerns over how artificial intelligence models, such as ChatGPT, scrape and repurpose online content without proper compensation.

A Global Precedent

The proposed measures mirror initiatives in other countries, such as Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, which led to significant financial settlements between tech companies and media houses. However, similar efforts in Canada and Australia have faced resistance, with Google and Meta threatening to block news content rather than comply with payment requirements.

If implemented, the South African proposal could set a precedent for other African nations seeking to regulate digital platforms and secure fairer terms for local news publishers. However, enforcing these policies may prove challenging, especially if tech companies push back against regulatory demands.

With the battle for fair compensation gaining traction worldwide, South Africa’s move signals a growing shift toward holding digital giants accountable for the economic impact their platforms have on traditional media industries. Whether Google and Meta will comply—or retaliate—remains to be seen.