The Competition Commission wants Google to “compensate” South African news media between R300-million and R500-million annually over a three- to five-year period.

This is one of the main findings in the commission’s much-anticipated provisional report stemming from its 16-month media and digital platforms market inquiry.

And its proposals don’t stop at Google: the commission also has X, Meta Platforms and other tech and social media companies in its sights. It’s also warned that if the companies targeted in its findings don’t cooperate on the proposed remedies, it may seek a 5-10% levy on the tech giants to compensate the local media industry.

The commission said it wants Meta to stop de-prioritising news on Facebook “to restore referral traffic to the media from its peak with at least a 100% increase in referral traffic”. Elon Musk’s X and Meta must also “cease de-prioritising news with links in the user feed”. These demands set up the commission for a big fight with these global tech giants, which have pushed back against such proposals in other jurisdictions.

On Google, the commission has recommended that the internet giant pay up to R500-million/year to correct what it has described as the “imbalance in shared value while putting in place changes to search that will sustainably create shared value with the media through increases in referral traffic”.

“This includes the removal of search bias in favour of foreign media and YouTube, and the promotion of vernacular and community media,” the commission said in a statement.

Other findings

Additionally, the competition regulator – which has begun flexing its muscles in the broad technology sector – has made the following recommendations in the draft report:

YouTube should improve the ability of the media and broadcasters, including the SABC, to monetise their content on its platform through increases in the revenue share to 70% and active promotion of higher value direct sales by the media.
To address misinformation, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act should be amended to introduce platform liability for harmful content and the amplification of misinformation. The commission has proposed that the social media platforms partner with and compensate the media on fact-checking.
Search and social media should share richer anonymised user data for consumers engaging with news content on their platforms to enable improved insights and monetisation of their audiences.
The media should be allowed to negotiate collectively with artificial intelligence companies for content deals to train AI chatbots. If not, measures should be in place to prevent AI chatbots from favouring global media partners and to drive referral traffic to local news media.

“The news media is essential for free expression and democracy, informing citizens and holding institutions accountable. Globally, the media industry is undergoing rapid change due to the shift to online news consumption, challenging traditional revenue models and necessitating changes to business models,” the commission said in a statement.

Read: YouTube: a $455-billion media giant hiding in plain sight

“While there are challenges that the media must face from the disruptive effect of digitalisation, the inquiry provisionally finds that these challenges are exacerbated by the conduct of platforms that hinder the ability of the news media to secure and monetise digital traffic,” it said. “These digital platforms do not produce news themselves and cannot replace journalism’s role.”

“Against this backdrop and extensive evidence gathering, the provisional report presents a series of provisional findings against tech giants including Google, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, OpenAI, X and TikTok, along with provisional remedies across search, social media, generative AI and digital advertising to address conduct that adversely impact competition for digital advertising and journalism in South Africa,” the commission said.

“It is important to note that the findings and remedies are provisional and that further submissions, evidence and engagements with the inquiry following the release of the provisional report may result in changes to these findings, recommendations and remedies.”