Analysis of how Australia forced Google and Facebook to negotiate with news outlets over compensation for carrying their stories <https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/02/australias-standoff-against-google-and-facebook-worked-sort-of/>. Other countries (most famously Spain) had previously tried something similar, only to have it backfire spectacularly. Australia has succeeded where others failed—up to a point. Seems the two online behemoths are paying off some bigger news outlets, but rebuffing attempts from others to come to a similar deal. While the country’s news media bargaining code is now law, it has not (yet) actually needed enforcement: all the deals so far have been voluntary. So, has it been beneficial for Australian media as a whole, or only for certain favoured players? But even critics of the code suggest it could be a useful starting point. Emily Bell, director of Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, says she is concerned by the code’s lack of transparency, but concedes that Facebook and Google have paid more to publishers in Australia than they do under their philanthropic donations elsewhere. “What we do know is that some legislation is better than none.”