California lawmakers intend to shelve a bill that would have required big tech companies, like Google and Meta, to pay news outlets for distributing their content. The bill will be replaced by a new public-private partnership between the state and Google to fund programs to research artificial intelligence and bolster local journalism.
Nearly $250 million over the next five years would be used for two new initiatives. One initiative is a fund to distribute millions to California news outlets, while the other is an “AI accelerator” that would help journalists discover new ways to use the technology, the Los Angeles Times reported.
One-fourth of the money will come from state taxpayers, while the rest will come from Google and potentially other private donors, according to The Times.
“This agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California — leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement to The Times. “The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy.”
The agreement between California and Google ends a two-year battle between the news and tech industries to revitalize local journalism amid changes in how people consume news and how advertisers reach consumers.
Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who introduced the now-shelved bill, formally known as the California Journalism Preservation Act, argued that California journalism is essential to democracy. As advertisement revenue shrinks, leading to the layoffs of reporters, many communities often go without independent watchdogs.
“The CJPA provides a lifeline for news outlets – large, small, and ethnic – by directing a portion of the ad dollars back to the print, digital, and broadcast media that bear the entire cost of gathering and reporting local news while Big Tech bears none,” said Wicks. “These dominant digital ad companies are enriching their own platforms with local news content without adequately compensating the originators. It’s time they start paying market value for the journalism they are aggregating at no cost from local media.” Wicks previously said in a statement.
The debate on solving the problem led to friction between the two industries. In April, Google announced it would consider removing news website links from search results for some users.
In a new statement, Google thanked state leaders for their leadership as news and tech leaders navigated the issue.
“We appreciate the thoughtful leadership of Governor Newsom, Assemblymember Wicks, Chair Umberg, and Senator Glazer on these issues. California lawmakers have worked with the tech and news sectors to develop a collaborative framework to accelerate AI innovation and support local and national businesses and nonprofit organizations. This public-private partnership builds on our long history of working with journalism and the local news ecosystem in our home state while developing a national center of excellence on AI policy.” Kent Walker, president of Global Affairs for Alphabet, said in a statement.