The US trade office has added to its list of grievances with Australia just before the Trump administration unveils a new tranche of tariffs.
The companies have blamed Australia for “coercing” them into sacrificing their revenue to schemes such as the News Media Bargaining Incentive.
Labor plans to legislate a yearly charge in the tens of millions of dollars on big social media platforms to fund journalism.
The bosses of Nine,News Corp and Seven West Media have called for a potential ban on Facebook if parent company Meta fails to comply with local laws and values.
The company is against a bill to stop journalism job losses as publishers struggle to make money,while it cashes in on advertising in search results.
The former federal treasurer,now the Goldman Sachs Australia chairman,said brokering a deal with Meta and Google involved one-on-one conversations with the companies’ chiefs.
Meta’s decision to pull almost $70 million in annual revenue for news organisations puts reputable journalism at risk.
Australian Community Media boss Antony Catalano warns of job losses in regional publishing.
The Morrison government established the tools to force the giant media platforms to pay fairly for news on their sites. Now the Albanese government must use those tools.
Former competition regulator Allan Fels says the federal government should use tax law and content rules to maximise pressure on the social media giant to pay for Australian news content.