Facebook will present cash for an “innovation fund” for 170 regional Australian newspapers as a part of a deliberate licensing deal, the events mentioned on Friday, calling the transfer a present of co-operation between the social media large and native publishers.

The transfer brings a grassroots aspect to a string of offers introduced by Facebook in Australia because the nation legislated to make it and Alphabet’s Google negotiate content material funds to media retailers or danger authorities arbitration.

Since the regulation took impact in February, dominant information suppliers like News Corp, Nine Entertainment, and the Australian Broadcasting Corp have signed offers or letters of intent with the Big Tech gamers.

The deal deliberate by Country Press Australia (CPA) and the tech large would deliver Facebook cash nearer to mastheads like The Bunyip, circulation 8,750, and Gympie Today, circulation 4,000, since they’re among the many 170 retailers represented by it.

Terms of the deal together with timeframe, the amount of cash and the way will probably be divided or spent weren’t disclosed in a joint assertion from CPA and Facebook. The assertion mentioned the events had signed a letter of intent to strike a deal solely.

“This funding support will help Country Press Australia’s members build their digital businesses and reach new audiences,” mentioned Facebook’s information partnership lead for Australia and New Zealand, Andrew Hunter.

“It’s part of our continuing investment in Australian journalism and our collaboration with the news industry to build sustainable business models,” he added.

CPA President Andrew Manuel mentioned the Facebook funding would “help sustain original public interest journalism in the multitude of regional and local communities” the place the physique’s member newspapers have been revealed.

Before the Australian legal guidelines have been handed, Facebook and Google campaigned towards them together with a transfer by Facebook to chop all content material from newsfeeds within the nation briefly. The U.S. companies have since unveiled quite a few offers, though some smaller publishers have mentioned they nonetheless haven’t been in a position to get to negotiating tables.

© Thomson Reuters 2021