Google and Facebook set for showdown with Australian publishers over news media bargaining code

New laws forcing tech giants Google and Facebook to pay news organisations for access to their journalism will be introduced to Parliament on Wednesday, in what the Treasurer’s describing as a “world first”.

The mandatory bargaining code is the result of many years of complaints from traditional media outlets that social media platforms benefit from the hard graft of journalists without paying a cent for it.

Google and Facebook have long argued in response that media organisations are overlooking the benefit they derive from referrals and clicks through to their websites.

But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is siding with the broadcasters and publishers, saying advertising revenue in areas such as print newspapers has plummeted by 75 per cent…