A US Senate committee votes to approve the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, letting news organizations jointly negotiate with big tech platforms

Reuters 2022-09-23 Diane Bartz

Context & Ripple Effects

The measure followed a bipartisan reintroduction of collective-bargaining legislation and sits alongside Senate scrutiny of platform conduct, including a report that tied local-news pressures to alleged conduct by Facebook and Google. It frames publisher negotiations as a competition-policy response rather than a stand-alone media subsidy.

The proposal’s legislative path later remained contested: Meta said it might remove news if the bill passed, and Congress ultimately omitted it from a defense-spending package. A subsequent committee advance of the same bill shows the issue persisted despite that setback.

First-order effects

News organizations gain a route to bargain collectively with major technology platforms under the approved bill, strengthening their position relative to negotiating one publisher at a time.
Big technology platforms face a coordinated publisher counterparty if the measure becomes law, making payments and terms for news distribution a direct policy issue.

Second-order effects

Meta’s later threat to remove news from its apps signals that platforms may answer bargaining mandates by reassessing whether to carry news, not merely by negotiating prices.
The bill adds pressure to the Senate’s broader platform-competition agenda, alongside the American Innovation and Choice Online Act’s committee advance, by treating platform leverage as a legislative target.

Third-order effects

Repeated efforts to move the act point toward a policy model in which collective bargaining is used to counter concentrated platforms’ leverage over publishers, though enactment remains the deciding threshold.
If platforms respond by limiting news availability rather than paying publishers, the policy debate shifts from compensation toward who bears responsibility for news distribution online.

The trend: US lawmakers are increasingly using competition policy to rebalance bargaining power between dominant platforms and businesses that depend on them for distribution.

Discussion

@mattdpearce Matt Pearce on x
Just my weekly cranky reminder that the federal bill purporting to help local journalists, JCPA, isn't actually enthusiastically supported by local journalists, and this bird site is chock full of 'em. https://twitter.com/...
@senmikelee Mike Lee on x
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act makes publishers more dependent on Big Tech, not less. Unfortunately, the bill's lofty intentions do not outweigh its unintended consequences. https://twitter.com/...
@vwpickard Victor Pickard on x
We do need policy interventions to reinvent and sustain the journalism that our democracy requires, but the #JCPA doesn't advance those goals and instead bolsters a flawed commercial model that privileges profit-driven media firms over the needs of news workers and communities. h…
@sentedcruz Senator Ted Cruz on x
Today I secured significant protections against Big Tech censorship with an amendment to the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2022. 1/x https://www.cruz.senate.gov/ ...
@blakereid Blake E. Reid on x
The JCPA is just not ready for prime time. Unfortunate to see its proponents keep pushing it despite the deep conceptual flaws. https://twitter.com/...
@neil_chilson @neil_chilson on x
Antitrust “hawk” @SenAmyKlobuchar has spent so much political capital sucking up to a retrograde news industry by giving them permission to literally form a cartel, content moderation nightmare side effects be damned. #JCPA
@sentedcruz Senator Ted Cruz on x
Big Tech hates the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. My amendment to JCPA is the first meaningful consequence for and protection against censorship based on viewpoint and content by Big Tech! https://twitter.com/...
@vwpickard Victor Pickard on x
@matthewstoller No, it is one objection, not necessarily the real objection, nor the the objection share by everyone else. And no, I don't think the bill will work. Quite the contrary. And my objection is based on empirical grounds, and not out of some ideological allegiance.
@amyklobuchar Amy Klobuchar on x
Independent journalism is critical to strengthening democracy & keeping us informed. My bipartisan bill with Sen. Kennedy to help save our local media outlets from losing hard-earned revenue to Facebook & Google just passed out of committee 17-7! One step closer to becoming law!
@amyklobuchar Amy Klobuchar on x
The vote was actually 15-7. Looking forward to the edit function, Twitter!
@sentedcruz Senator Ted Cruz on x
This is a major win for free speech and it strikes a blow against the virtual monopoly that Big Tech has to limit the information that Americans see online. The bottom line is Big Tech hated this bill from the start and now they hate it even more. 4/x
@sarahmillerdc Sarah Miller on x
Today's vote is a win for democracy and a blow against Facebook and Google's extraordinary power over it. A diverse, decentralized news media is essential for protecting American democracy, and the bipartisan JCPA offers a desperately-needed lifeline to smaller news outlets. http…
@haroldfeld @haroldfeld on x
I am amused that @SenJohnKennedy in his statement says #JCPA will prevent “throttling” by platforms. Just more proof that for Rs this all about net neutrality payback.
@netchoice @netchoice on x
Proposals like #JCPA would enable, “the use of government power to interfere in decisions about what is and is not legitimate news and diminish competition in the diverse media landscape.” @jrhuddles https://netchoice.org/...
@nyguild @nyguild on x
Our members — America's journalists, editorial, and media workers — are supposed to be the people whose work #JCPA supports. We asked Senator @CoryBooker to make sure that this legislation does just that: https://www.nyguild.org/...
@mattdpearce @mattdpearce on x
Thank you @SenAlexPadilla for once again raising working journalists' concerns about JCPA rewarding corporate vampires like Gannett and Alden Global Capital without limits. https://twitter.com/...
@carlszabo Carl Szabo on x
.@amyklobuchar made clear that she wants to use antitrust law to help her preferred interests. She just moved her #JCPA out of committee which allows newspapers she likes to create a cartel in violation of existing antitrust law https://netchoice.org/...
@steveguest Steve Guest on x
Sen. Ted Cruz on his JCPA amendment: “This amendment protects against this antitrust liability being used as a shield for censorship. Big Tech hates this bill...This [amend] will be the 1st meaningful consequence for & protection against censorship based on viewpoint & content.” …
@canyonbrimhall @canyonbrimhall on x
Today's JCPA mark-up was very disappointing. Members on both sides of the aisle expressed concerns that weren't addressed. Sen. Padilla offered amendments that weren't even considered. The bill has never received a hearing, and the mark-ups allowed almost no debate. What a joke.
@itifdc @itifdc on x
The #JCPA is a controversial piece of legislation with many potential unintended consequences, and the Senate should not move forward with it, says @castrotech in response to the @JudiciaryDems favorably reporting the legislation. https://itif.org/...
@berinszoka @berinszoka on x
Today's #JCPA markup illustrates how deeply broken Congress is: it's bad enough that the Judiciary Committee really doesn't understand or care how the text they draft will be applied by the, uh, judiciary Even those who care don't care enough to insist on getting it right
@freepress @freepress on x
🚨Still flawed. 🚨 “If the goal is to put journalists back to work on beats and in communities where they're needed the most, the JCPA falls far short.” - @RispoliMike #JCPA https://www.freepress.net/...
@sentedcruz Senator Ted Cruz on x
I'm laser focused on preventing censorship and protecting free speech. My amendment to JCPA would protect against anti-trust liability being used as a shield for censorship. https://twitter.com/...
@techfreedom @techfreedom on x
#JCPA will benefit far more than real journalism: it will make it difficult for tech platforms to moderate, or refuse to pay, for hate speech, misinformation, etc Our letter with 15 law professors explained why before the first markup of the bill https://twitter.com/...
@jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x
Klobuchar's JCPA is shit legislation. https://medium.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@techdirt @techdirt on x
Klobuchar's Link Tax Is Back... And Somehow Even Worse? Helps Trumpist Grifters Get Free Money & No Moderation From Google https://www.techdirt.com/...
@mathewi Mathew Ingram on x
JCPA would “bar the tech firms from throttling, filtering, suppressing or curating content” https://twitter.com/...
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima on x
Republican Sen. Kennedy billing committee passage of his amended JCPA w/ Klobuchar, which would give publishers more bargaining power against the tech giants, as a win against “censorship” https://twitter.com/...
@berinszoka @berinszoka on x
Big tech's abuse isn't limited to the exercise of market power. They also abuse their power in the public square. We've already been through this. Must-carry violated the First Amendment even where newspapers had true local monopolies. Cruz knows better. https://twitter.com/...
@berinszoka @berinszoka on x
Senate Judiciary meeting just started. Before turning to the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act, Durbin denounces MAGA incitement against the FBI Which is ironic because #JCPA would force platforms to pay publications that spread lies about the FBI https://www.judiciary.se…
@techfreedom @techfreedom on x
Amy Klobuchar keeps saying the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act is about funding quality journalism, not content moderation Republicans supporting #JPCA think it WOULD limit content moderation—as we've been warning The bill gets marked up tomorrow... 🧵 https://twitter.…
@rebeccaklar_ Rebecca Klar on x
.@SenAmyKlobuchar on the deal: “Platforms like Facebook and Google are counting on Republicans and Democrats being unable to put aside their differences to agree on meaningful legislation in the tech sector. This is our moment to prove them wrong.” https://twitter.com/...
@netchoice @netchoice on x
“We're disappointed to see the Senate Judiciary Committee advance JCPA. Exempting newspapers from antitrust laws will incentivize them to collude in order to control legitimate news and diminish competition,” said @jrhuddles in our press statement: https://netchoice.org/...
@fightfortheftr @fightfortheftr on x
Extremely disappointing to see the #JCPA move out of committee. To please lobbyists for mega-corps like Alden Global Capital, legislators abandoned their obligation to do due diligence on #JCPA harms to journalists and open internet. We'll fight any floor vote tooth and nail. htt…
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
This is the real objection to the #JCPA, not that it won't work but that it will. Opponents of the bill simply do not want an advertising-funded for-profit media sector. @VWPickard offers an honest ideological objection instead of the dishonest procedural smokescreens. https://tw…
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
During tomorrow's markup, you're going to hear a LOT from Senators who insist they need to pass the JCPA to “help journalists.” But, remember, most journalists know it's bullshit. https://twitter.com/...

Chronicles