The United Kingdom (UK) could introduce a law forcing tech companies like Meta and Google to pay media outlets for featuring their stories in content feeds or search results, Tom Bateman reported for Euronews.

Photo Insert: "I saw the pervasiveness of Big Tech when I was in health, and I see what it’s doing to our democracy and our press from this department," said UK Culture Minister Nadine Dorries.
UK culture minister Nadine Dorries told the Sunday Times newspaper that she was looking at implementing a similar system to the one introduced in Australia last year, calling her plans "Australia plus plus" and "Australia with bolts on."
In January, Britain's Mail on Sunday reported that Dorries was behind planned legal changes that would push tech platforms to negotiate fees with news publishers and could see an independent regulator set prices if no agreement could be reached.
Dorries, who was previously the UK's mental health minister, said regulating Big Tech would help Britain's media survive in an era when consumers get their news for free online.
"I saw the pervasiveness of Big Tech when I was in health, and I see what it’s doing to our democracy and our press from this department," she told the Sunday Times. Companies like Facebook and Google have long been criticized by publishers for taking advantage of their content for free, profiting off the attention it brings to their own platforms.
In February last year, Facebook pushed back at Australia's then-proposed law, saying publishers "willingly choose to post news on Facebook," as it helped grow their audiences.
Australia's 2021 digital news law - known officially as the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code - allows its government to designate digital platforms that must pay to feature news stories from publishers.
Tech firms Meta (then still called Facebook) and Google fought against the law, with Facebook opting to block its Australian users from sharing or viewing news stories on its platform. News content later returned to Facebook after the companies signed commercial agreements with Australian publishers.
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