United States of America: Introduced Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2023 (S 1094)

On 30 March 2023, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act of 2023 (S 1094) was introduced in the United States Senate. The Act reintroduces the provisions outlined in a previous Bill, S 673, that failed to pass before the 117th Congress adjourned on 3 January 2023. The Act would regulate collective negotiation between news organisations and covered digital platforms over the access of platforms to the content of such news organisations. A covered platform is defined as having 50 million monthly active US-based users and being owned by a person with annual sales of USD 550 billion or no fewer than 1 billion monthly active worldwide users. The Act prescribes the procedural steps of such a collective negotiation process and requires the covered platforms to negotiate in good faith with news organisations. The Act would allow news organisations to collectively negotiate with platforms, exempting them from the liability of engaging in anti-competitive agreements.