Klobuchar Blasts Meta for Threatening to Pull Content Over Bid to Add JCPA to NDAA

Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., struck back Tuesday against opponents of her Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (S-673) following a wave of outcry against a bid to attach the controversial bill to the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2212050067). Text of a pending compromise version of the annual measure, to be filed as an amendment to shell bill HR-7776, again failed to materialize by Tuesday afternoon, amid fractious negotiations.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during a Tuesday news conference, didn’t address S-673 opponents’ concerns about adding it to the NDAA but did note ongoing questions about how to update or modify Communications Decency Act Section 230 amid rising circulation of antisemitic content on social media platforms. “I’ve always said that Section 230 is something that we should look at,” he said: “The difficulty there is coming up with the right solution, but it’s something I’d be open to looking at.”

Negotiating deals to pass NDAA and a hoped-for FY23 federal appropriations omnibus package “isn’t an easy process, but it’s important nonetheless,” Schumer told reporters. “We’re going to work doggedly until we get an agreement.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., “and I have agreed to try and work together to make sure we get a yearlong omnibus funding bill done,” Schumer said. “We hope it can be done this year and each side is going to have to give in order to send an omnibus to” President Joe Biden “and avoid a pointless government shutdown.” Communications sector stakeholders are monitoring whether telecom-focused lawmakers can reach a deal on spectrum legislative language that can pass via an omnibus, including a longer-term renewal of the FCC’s auction authority (see 2211300074).

“I felt really good about” S-673’s prospects of making it into the NDAA “until yesterday, when everyone got scared” by Facebook parent Meta’s announcement it might pull all news content from that social media platform if the measure passes via the defense measure, Klobuchar told reporters. S-673 “belongs on” NDAA “and it should pass” given support from Republicans like Senate Minority Whip John Thune of South Dakota, she said. The Senate Judiciary Committee-cleared S-673 (see 2209220077) would create a limited antitrust exemption to allow news publishers to collectively bargain with tech platforms for the use of their content. The House Judiciary Committee hasn't voted on companion HR-1735.

Meta’s threat is the “exact same threat, as did Google, in Australia” when that country passed a law requiring platforms to share revenue with local, independent news organizations (see 2102110070), Klobuchar told reporters. The company said it planned “to leave an entire industrialized nation in the dust,” but “obviously that did not happen.” Meta similarly announced in October it might block Canadian users from sharing news content in response to that country’s Online News Act, which if passed would require social media platforms to pay publishers for sharing their content.

Meta’s opposition to S-673 shows its “whole model must be propped up on getting cheap content that is produced by other people in order to fill their coffers with more money,” Klobuchar said. The measure “simply allows for negotiation” on rates, so “let’s see what rates the newspapers get. Why would you fold and stop doing your operations of any kind until you even knew if you were going to get rates?” A Meta spokesperson cited a 2021 statement that it had reached an agreement with the Australian government on its law, but said the company had "nothing further" to say.

“At some point we’re going to have to put our money where our mouth is” on antitrust legislation, Klobuchar said. “You can’t have 18 months of hearings over in the House” on addressing Big Tech antitrust matters “and then produce nothing.” She noted the House’s September passage (see 2209260060) of the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act (HR-3843) but lamented Congress’ lack of progress on other legislation to counter Big Tech. “We’ve done nothing on Section 230, we’ve done nothing on privacy,” Klobuchar said. “Maybe we could at least do one thing in order to make sure that people have the ability to get local news.”

Senate Antitrust ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, came out Tuesday against attaching S-673 to the NDAA. The measure “has nothing to do with national security,” he tweeted. “Its inclusion in the NDAA is a last-ditch effort to silence conservative voices and independent journalism.” Lee said the bid is “a desperate attempt for Democrats to pass the legislation during the lame-duck session of Congress” and claimed S-673 “does little to "preserve" journalism and instead works to the benefit of large corporate news conglomerates.

The Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild sector criticized Meta Tuesday over its S-673 threat, but also urged lawmakers to modify the bill’s language to better support journalism jobs. Congress should “adopt language from” HR-1735 “ensuring that revenue will go to hiring and retaining local journalists and that there is public transparency on how much money these publishers get,” said President Jon Schleuss: “Many local journalism startups are nonprofits and we strongly urge their inclusion into the JCPA.” Other S-673 critics also continued to counter the measure, including Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers.