On 31 March, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers reintroduced a law that would enable news organizations to join in negotiating ad rates with tech giants like Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google. This legislation would enable news broadcasters and publishers with fewer than 1,500 full-time employees to jointly negotiate ad rates, which would benefit many of them.
The News/Media Alliance, a media trade group, welcomed the bill, saying it will safeguard and sustain local journalism. They said that: 'Emerging technologies such as AI are making it even more clear the need for compensation when content creators may soon see even less return than what they receive today.'
Google has previously claimed that its licensing fees and ad income provide news organizations with the funding they require and that its search engine directs users to publishers' websites billions of times monthly. In December, Meta threatened to remove news if Congress had approved the journalism competition measure.