Months of treatments and providing arguments for nothing have come to nothing, and yet the issue of copyright, the DSM directive and the function of the state in the negotiations of large tech publishers ended in media protest. large techs reacted by cutting the scope critical of their lyrics, emphatically showing what the game is about. And on X, we can read quite a few information from Google about how large the immediate implementation of the DSM Directive will be.
Poland accepts it as the last in the Union, so that it can take into account the experience of another countries. It's very detailed. in analysis for the Zamenhof Institute Sylwia Czubkowska.
The directive was created as a consequence to the increasing disparities between the negotiating possible of individual countries and corporations. Spain, which was the first in 2014, introduced an work to enter into agreements between platforms and publishers, experienced a sulfuric reaction – Google News withdrew from its marketplace for 8 years.
Drawing lessons from this experience, European countries come together, showing that they are a large, more crucial marketplace that is harder to blackmail. The problem is that each country implements the directive its own way, which gives large techs an chance to outlog or force better conditions for themselves. It is not difficult, it is adequate to endanger the applicable politicians to cut their scope before the election campaign, as it was in Poland, so that they would let the platform to gain a fewer months and even years longer.
Czubkowska describes the example of France, which should be a informing to our legislators. France implemented DSM in 2019 as the first. In response, Google changed the display strategy by hiding previews of the publishers' content. There were processes that showed another imbalance between publishers and large tech – money that could be spent on processes. Google violated the terms of the contracts already concluded and was protracting. This is simply a permanent play by large platforms: they have money and they process themselves not in good faith, in order to establish a consensus, but in order to finish the financial opponent.
Therefore, subsequent countries, erstwhile implementing the DSM, have just demanded good will in negotiations, transparency, i.e. the provision by platforms to publishers of accurate data on the usage of content and gross resulting from this use. Another conclusion from these experiences is to call for negotiations between publishers and large tech of the state side, in the case of Poland it would be UOKIK. These are the 3 amendments proposed the Left and they were rejected.
Publishers went wrong
Freedom and the existence of the media depend on our security, the level of debate and the quality of government. Why, then, have months of treatments proved ineffective? due to the fact that publishers went to the incorrect places. Senator Tomasz Grodzki explained the matter. It's not free. If you want something from a feudalist, you should be nice, offer an exchange, a benefit, even if it's rather symbolic, like a broadcast or journalistic material about an costly case for a senator. Get in line, client – this is the message of the state authoritative of the higher chamber of the democratic parliament of the state.
Besides being inelegant, indecent and not evasive, in a sense Tomasz Grodzki pointed to a crucial fact, namely the imbalance of arguments. When, for weeks after the Sejm and the Senate, the “nice typical of Google” has been walking around, as described, with most likely many arguments, specified as jobs, reach, innovation, invitations, flichtr, money and fame, they could truly get published and have a good senatoric heart program. The Senator has his insignificant feudal habits to respect. He likes fame, He likes to be around., likes to have All right, socks.. This is what we already knew, and now we besides know that nicer than rules, freedom of the media, or democracy, are gestures that tickle the ego.
Fortunately, we besides have Donald Tusk. On Wednesday there was a gathering of the Prime Minister with publishers.
It took rather a long time, although I do not know whether as long as it did with farmers. Without the media (!), but it has brought a commitment that the amendments prepared by the Left will be rewritten for coalition amendments in the next week and despite erstwhile assurances that it is impossible to make specified negotiations later, due to the fact that DSM needs to be implemented rapidly – a bill that strengthens the position of publishers towards large techs, is due to enter into force in August. Which, of course, will only be – how announces Czubkowska – the closure of a chapter, and the beginning of another chapter, due to the fact that it is certain that "we have no hope for fast and amicable media agreements with large techs".
At the Wednesday gathering with the publishers in addition to the Prime Minister there were: Marshals of the legislature of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Minister of Culture Hanna Wróblewski, Head of the Permanent Committee of the Government of Maciej Berek and Head of KPRM Jan Grabiec.
After the gathering there were assurances that the government is not afraid of large techs, that media freedom is simply a condition for democracy, that media independency is in the interests of power.
Fortunately, Donald Tusk decided to meet with the publishers. Regardless of his motivation: he may want to strengthen our chances of combating disinformation, he may want large techs to pay taxes in Poland, he may not want progressive reasoning to stand out only to the Left, especially erstwhile the Sejm rejected the law decriminating abortion, besides with the voice of the Coalition MPs on October 15.
Through this bill, it proves that it is in the strongest position possible. He doesn't gotta worry about large techs, or hang on to them, he can solve a process that lasts for months. And besides set an example for politicians from their own ranks who are embarrassing themselves, like Senator Grodzki.
