OBSERVACOM published two new reports conducted with the support of the Forum on Information and Democracy: a global mapping of comparative legislation and regulatory and self-regulatory initiatives on platform contributions to media funding, and an analysis of the scope and impact of Google and Meta’s media support programs in Latin America.
In a context of the crisis facing the press and media in general, the discussion about whether—and how—platforms should contribute to remedy their impact on media and journalism has become a topic of global debate. To provide evidence and nuance to this debate, OBSERVACOM presented two new studies conducted with the support of the Forum on Information and Democracy.
One of the publications, “Regulatory and Self-Regulatory Initiatives of Digital Platforms for Media Financing,” reviews laws and regulatory initiatives in Europe, North America, Latin America, and Australia. Its goal: to explore efforts that require or encourage large digital platforms to provide resources to media organizations and strengthen the sustainability of journalism. It also identifies support programs promoted directly by platforms — and analyzes tensions these measures generate among states, media, and technology companies, as well as their scope and limitations. This study was authored by Ana Bizberge, associate researcher at OBSERVACOM.
Its conclusions include that the dominant regulatory approach prioritizes remuneration or compensation schemes (e.g. copyright or competition-based) to correct commercial imbalances between large media outlets and the platforms.
Furthermore, it warns of the significant intermediation power of Big Tech : faced with regulatory attempts, they respond with lobbying, litigation, and news blackouts, strategies that function as pressure or extortion against sovereign decisions. It also observes that, in Latin America, the debate is still in its early stages (Brazil is leading the way, but still without any approved legislation) and that civil society continues to raise concerns about the copyright approach promoted by media associations, arguing that pluralism and support for journalism must remain priorities.
The second publication “Impact of support programs of large digital platforms to media outlets in Latin America: The cases of Google News Initiative and Meta for Media”, explores the characteristics and impact of the main support programs of Google and Meta for media outlets in Latin America, examining their financing mechanisms and lines of action.
The study, authored by Santiago Marino and Agustín Espada, associate researchers at OBSERVACOM, finds that Google and Meta themselves decide which media to support and with how much money – in programs with transparency deficits and resources that are insufficient to compensate for the damages caused by the platforms’ over distribution of content and their dominance of the media ecosystem.
The study asserts that the impact of the programs is low and unrepresentative: a small amount of money for a few beneficiaries, failing to cover the diversity of the ecosystem (excluding many independent digital outlets, public/non-commercial media, and media outside of major cities). It also warns that the programs erode editorial and economic autonomy, reinforce the structural dependence of media outlets on platforms, and are a non-neutral financing mechanism — favoring commercial and political interests of the platforms themselves—by conditioning projects, the type of “innovation” that are incentivized, and how long the support lasts.