MALAYSIAN media outlets losing out on advertising revenue to global social media platforms have been urged to engage with the latter in a positive and constructive way for a slice of the funds.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said one option is the creation of a fund for local news agencies with contributions made by social media firms.
He said that he is prepared to assist the country’s media organisations on the matter, but would prefer that they make the first move.
“This is something the media organisations, I hope, can (undertake to) have direct engagements with these platforms.
“As far as my ministry and the government are concerned, we are prepared to assist and facilitate.
“But at this point of time, we don’t see that we will be going down this road,” he told journalists covering the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco on Thursday (California time).
Fahmi is in San Francisco to accompany Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is attending the annual APEC event.
He said that he recently met representatives from TikTok and Google, implicitly conveying the matter of advertising expenditure to them.
The issue also covers Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, he stressed.
Fahmi noted that such a move has already been done in Taiwan.
Policies, such as a news law imposed in Australia that compels social media firms to pay for content from news agencies shared on their platforms, would only be a last resort.
The Australian law forces Facebook and Google to reach commercial deals with Australian news publishers or face compulsory arbitration.
Fahmi had recently expressed his concern about falling advertising revenues after advertisers had increasingly shifted their spending to major social media platforms like Google, Meta and TikTok.
He said more than half of the annual RM4.5 billion expenditure on advertisements had gone to these platforms, forcing many media organisations to lay off journalists.
In another development, Fahmi said a carnival to mark Anwar’s achievements in his first year as prime minister will be held at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in a week’s time, from December 8 to December 9.
He said officers from the Information Department nationwide will also be roped in to assist in disseminating success stories of the unity government over the past year. – The Vibes, November 17, 2023
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