Four large media associations in Taiwan yesterday urged the government to create laws that would require Google and other large international platform operators to negotiate a reasonable split of their advertising revenue with local content providers.
Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, representatives from the Taiwan Digital and Marketing Association (DMA), Media Agency Association, Taipei Newspapers Association and Satellite Television Broadcasting Association said they also opposed a proposal requiring Internet platform operators to devote a percentage of their advertising revenue to the creation of a public fund, which would be used to support the production of quality news content.
“The government should stipulate laws to ensure that [media providers] secure their share of advertising revenue, rather than setting up a fund to address the issue. We hope that the government will listen to industry representatives,” DMA chairman Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) said.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
Taipei Newspaper Association secretary-general Aaker Chen (陳志光) said that his association’s position has always been that users should pay for media content.
There should be a reasonable mechanism governing the division of advertising revenue between media and platform operators, he added.
Local media providers can only secure a very small percentage of advertising revenue based on the advertising traffic their content brings in, and that business model should be changed, he said.
“We have seen in Australia that even media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch had trouble negotiating with Google or Facebook. It would be almost impossible for Taiwanese media to reach agreements with large platform operators,” he said.
His association has on multiple occasions urged the government to create laws to ensure that local content providers receive their fair share of advertising revenue, he added.
Chen said that his association was also against the proposal to establish a public fund made up of revenue collected from platform operators.
Several media experts have suggested that the fund be managed by a foundation, which would be in charge of distributing revenue to the providers of quality news content, he said.
“We believe that setting up such a fund is a really bad idea and goes against our ‘users pay’ principle,” Chen said.
“Using a government fund to support the production of high-quality content and giving content providers their fair share of advertising revenue should be treated as separate matters,” he added.
Satellite Television Broadcasting Association secretary-general May Chen (陳依玫) said that Google, Facebook and other digital platform operators have a social responsibility, given their strong global market power.
“In Taiwan, the least they can do is to sit down and negotiate with local media representatives. So far, we have not made much progress in this regard,” she said, adding that the government could facilitate such conversations.
Large platform operators not only have a responsibility to tackle issues caused by misinformation, but must also address the problem of content piracy.
DMA’s data showed that digital advertising revenue generated in Taiwan last year through access to content on general media and social media platforms topped NT$48.25 billion (US$1.73 billion), up 5.3 percent from 2019.
While 40.3 percent of the revenue came from access to general media content via mobile phones or tablets, 33.74 percent was gained through access to content on social media platforms via mobile devices, the data showed.
National Communications Commission Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said that the commission would investigate how large platforms have affected broadcast media, adding that it would work with the Ministry of Culture and the Fair Trade Commission to address the issue.
OPTIMISTIC: The DGBAS sharply upgraded its GDP growth estimate from 3.54 percent to 7.71 percent after the Taiwan-US trade agreement signing and given AI optimism The US imported more from Taiwan than China for the first time in decades, as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs reshape trade flows while a global boom in artificial intelligence (AI) fuels demand for tech products. US purchases of goods from China plunged almost 44 percent in December last year from 2024 to US$21.1 billion, US Department of Commerce data showed on Thursday. By contrast, shipments from Taiwan more than doubled during the same period to US$24.7 billion. The soaring Taiwanese shipments to the US reflect the huge expansion in supplies of chips and servers for AI companies, which has completely changed
NON-NEGOTIABLE: The US president’s action ran counter to one of the US’ ‘six assurances’ on not consulting China about arms sales to Taiwan, US lawmakers said US President Donald Trump’s admission that he is discussing arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is “alarming and a blatant violation of US policy and the six assurances,” US Representative Ro Khanna said on Tuesday. Trump on Monday said he would decide soon on whether to send more weapons to Taiwan, after Xi warned him not to do so. “I’m talking to him about it. We had a good conversation, and we’ll make a determination pretty soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about warnings raised by Beijing during a phone call with Xi over
The Central Election Commission has amended election and recall regulations to require elected office candidates to provide proof that they have no Chinese citizenship, a Cabinet report said. The commission on Oct. 29 last year revised the Measures for the Permission of Family-based Residence, Long-term Residence and Settlement of People from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民在台灣地區依親居留長期居留或定居許可辦法), the Executive Yuan said in a report it submitted to the legislature for review. The revision requires Chinese citizens applying for permanent residency to submit notarial documents showing that they have lost their Chinese household record and have renounced — or have never
US and Chinese fighter jets briefly faced off above waters near the Korean Peninsula this week, Yonhap News agency reported, marking a rare confrontation in that area between the two superpowers. About 10 US fighter jets on Wednesday departed an airbase in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, for drills above international waters off South Korea’s western coast, the news outlet cited unidentified military sources as saying. While the US planes did not enter China’s air defense identification zone, Beijing scrambled planes as they neared that region, the report said. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army organized naval and air forces to monitor and effectively respond
RSS