US news publishers could be owed between $11.9bn and $13.9bn a year by Google and Meta if new legislation forcing big tech payments goes ahead, a research paper has claimed.
However the tech companies strongly dispute the claims, with Google accusing the researchers of using flawed data to reach a “biased” conclusion.
The research used a “conservative” estimate to suggest that Google could owe US news publishers between $10bn and $12bn per year under the proposed Journalism and Competition Preservation Act (JCPA).
Meanwhile Facebook owner Meta could owe $1.9bn, the research paper, written by academics from consulting firm The Brattle Group, the University of Houston and Columbia University, added.
It argued that previous and existing deals between publishers and big tech for products like Google News Showcase and Facebook News (now winding down) “do not capture the full value generated by news content on the platforms”…
