United States of America: Passed California Journalism Preservation Act (AB 886)

On 1 June 2023, the California Journalism Preservation Act (AB 886) was passed by the Assembly of California. The Act would mandate covered online platforms to pay a monthly journalism usage fee to eligible digital journalism providers upon request. The covered online platforms are defined as platforms with over 50 million users or subscribers or are controlled by a person with annual sales or capitalisation of USD 550 billion in the US market or more than 1 billion worldwide monthly active users. The fee will be established based on an arbitration process outlined in the Act and will be a percentage of the platform's monthly advertising revenue multiplied by the digital journalism provider's allocation share. Further, the Act would require digital journalism providers to allocate at least 70% of the funds they receive to news journalists and support staff. Additionally, providers are required to submit annual reports detailing fee usage and expenditure, and the covered online platforms would be prohibited from retaliating against the digital journalism provider requesting the fee. The Act now goes to the Senate for deliberations.