The JCPA passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan 14-7 margin.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, The Tech Oversight Project praised the Senate Judiciary Committee for passing the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) by a bipartisan 14-7 vote. The JCPA, led by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), tackles Big Tech’s dominance over the news industry by creating a framework for news organizations to jointly negotiate fair compensation for access to their content.
“Big Tech and their allies are threatening to hold the American people hostage by cutting off access to local and national news – all to avoid fairly compensating news organizations that generate content in the first place. For nearly two decades companies like Google and Meta have stolen content from news outlets, refused to compensate journalists for their work, and bled local newsrooms dry, and it’s time for Big Tech to pay up,” said Kyle Morse, Deputy Executive Director of the Tech Oversight Project. “We applaud Senator Klobuchar, Senator Kennedy, and the Judiciary Committee for standing up to Big Tech’s scare tactics and moving forward bipartisan legislation that will bolster local newsrooms, keep the American people informed, and curb Big Tech’s dominance over the news and smaller businesses.”
Reining in Big Tech continues to be broadly bipartisan and popular with the American electorate. Dating back to last Congres, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act is just the latest in a long line of overwhelming bipartisan votes to hold Big Tech accountable, including the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, the Open App Markets Act, and last Congress’ JCPA, which passed out of Committee, and the Merger Filing Fee and Modernization Act, which passed the full House of Representatives.
The JCPA is cosponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Steve Daines (R-MT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Angus King (I-ME), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would:
- Empower eligible digital journalism providers—that is, news publishers with fewer than 1,500 exclusive full-time employees and news broadcasters that engage in standard newsgathering practices—to form joint negotiation entities to collectively negotiate with a covered platform over the pricing, terms, and conditions under which the covered platform’s access to digital news content.
- Require covered platforms—which are online platforms that have at least 50 million U.S.-based users or subscribers and are owned or controlled by a person that has either net annual sales or market capitalization greater than $550 billion or at least 1 billion worldwide monthly active users—to negotiate in good faith with the eligible news organizations.
- Enable non-broadcaster news publishers to demand final-offer arbitration if their joint negotiation with a covered platform fails to result in an agreement after six months.
- Create a limited safe harbor from federal and state antitrust laws for eligible digital journalism providers that allows them to participate in joint negotiations and arbitration and, as part of those negotiations, to jointly withhold their content from a covered platform.
- Prohibit discrimination by a joint negotiation entity or a covered platform against an eligible digital journalism provider based on its size or the views expressed in its content and provide a private right of action for violations of this prohibition.
- Prohibit retaliation by a covered platform against eligible digital journalism providers for participating in joint negotiations or arbitration and provide a private right of action for violations of this prohibition.