The US state of California has proposed a law concerning social media platforms needing to pay publications for using news on their sites. Under the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act, “online platforms” would be required to pay a “journalism usage fee” to news providers whose work appears on their services. This bill is aimed at reversing a decline in the local news sector. Responding to the proposed law, Facebook-parent Meta Platforms has said that it would have to remove news content in its home state of California. According to a report by Reuters, the social media giant will be compelled to take this step if the state government passes legislation forcing tech companies to pay publishers.
What Meta has to say about the bill
In a statement shared on Twitter ,Meta spokesperson Andy Stone has called the payment structure a “slush fund”. He also added that the bill will primarily benefit “big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers.” Read the whole statement here:

This was Meta’s first California bill-specific statement. However, the company has been facing similar troubles over compensation for news publishers at the federal level and in countries outside the US as well.
In December, Stone said that Meta would remove news from its platform altogether if the US Congress passes a bill that is quite similar to the proposed California legislation.
Meta may remove news content in other countries as well
The company is also threatening to withdraw news in Canada in response to proposed legislation in the country. Moreover, Alphabet-owned Google also said that it may remove links to news articles from Canadian search results if the bill passes
The proposed bill resembles the law that Australia passed in 2021. This law also triggered threats from Facebook and Google to curtail their services.

Eventually, both companies were able to strike deals with Australian media companies after amendments to the legislation were offered. However, the standoff resulted in a temporary shutdown of Facebook news feeds in Australia.
In December, an Australian government report concluded that the law was a success. Google is yet to respond to the California bill.