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The logos of Google and YouTube.
The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) has welcomed the findings and recommendations of the final report of the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry released by the Competition Commission.
The Inquiry found that major global platforms including Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, X and AI companies, dominate key gateways that South Africans use to access news and information, which has adversely affected local news media.
Remedial agreements reached with the international platforms include a R688 million Media Support Package by Google and YouTube to fund national, community, and vernacular media.
YouTube will also offer automatic access for all South African media to its Partner Programme and support the South African Broadcasting Corporation with direct ad sales and archive digitisation.
“The overabuse of products that come from newsrooms because journalists work hard to do interviews and all that, and these tech giants’ platforms just take the products and make money out of it, so it is a very pleasing development. We are yet to study it closely and look at it. I think the debate of whether or not the compensation is fair or better will always be an issue that we hardly resolve, but this is better than nothing at this stage,” says Sanef’s Hopewell Radebe.
VIDEO | The media has raised concerns about compensation for content it creates on digital platforms:
