On Tuesday, the California Assembly Committee on Privacy is holding a hearing considering the California Journalism Preservation Act (AB 886), a bill that would force online platforms to pay any eligible media outlets that asks for payment when posting their content. In written testimony to the Committee, Chamber of Progress noted that media outlets such as Fox News and Newsmax, known for publishing viral misinformation, may be the biggest beneficiaries of such a law. The testimony also notes that the law doesn’t require that the fee collected goes to increasing the salaries of journalists providing local news to Californians.

“We shouldn’t be forcing Google to pay for links to election misinformation or to media outlets that harm our local community,” said Chamber of Progress State and Local Policy Director Tepring Piquado. “If this law passes, the biggest winners won’t be Californians or even journalists, it will be national media outlets that demand payment for viral content. If California lawmakers want to support local news outlets, there needs to be a serious conversation about how to directly support the local news ecosystem, rather than creating incentives for clickbait and sensational stories.”

Chamber of Progress’s analysis of a link fee like the one proposed by the CJPA found that national conservative media outlets, such as Fox News and the New York Post, would earn seven times as much as local news. Read the full link tax study here.

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  

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