Meta Doesn't Feel Mandatory To Pay News Publishers In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook's parent company, announced that it believes new laws in Indonesia do not require them to pay news publishers for content that is voluntarily posted to their platforms.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, this week signed a law requiring digital platforms to pay for media that provide content to them. This law is scheduled to take effect in the next six months.

"After several rounds of consultation with the government, we understand that Meta will not be required to pay for news content whose publishers voluntarily post to our platform," said Rafael Frankel, Meta's Director of Public Policy for Southeast Asia.

The law stipulates that digital platforms and news publishers must establish partnerships that can be in the form of paid licenses, revenue sharing, or data sharing, but there's still a lot to be clear about how this new deal will work in practice.

Governments in various countries have long been worried about what they consider a power imbalance between digital platforms and news publishers and other content.

Australia has taken the lead with the News Media Negotiation Code Law which comes into effect in March 2021. Meta and Google have since signed a deal with media publishers to compensate them for the content that generates clicks and advertising revenue.