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The fact the Government is going ahead with Labour's Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, albeit with amendments, is not the story.\xa0

The fact ACT has played the \u201cAgree to Disagree" card is not really the story.\xa0

The real story is the question of, does it solve the problem?\xa0

What exactly is the problem?\xa0

The problem is the media, or at least parts of it, are in a financial hole and have decided that if only we get Facebook and Instagram to the table and get them to give us some money, we can bring back Fair Go or hire back a journalist or two.\xa0

If only it were that easy.\xa0

There is universal agreement in media that the social media giants are taking money out of the market and there is general agreement that that is pretty much unfair, given they monetise someone else's work.\xa0

The fact the media outlets use Facebook etc to pump their service and outlets and digital views doesn\u2019t get quite as widely covered.\xa0

But let's not interrupt the David and Goliath narrative flow and kill the buzz.\xa0

Should Facebook cut a deal? Probably.\xa0

Have they elsewhere? Sort of, but not really.\xa0

In Canada it hasn\u2019t worked well. The Government has ended up handing out money to news organisations after services got turned off.\xa0

Australia is in the middle of striking another deal which may or may not work. The Government are under pressure from places like Channel 9 and 7, who are laying off people by the hundred.\xa0

It all boils down to the idea of whether a social media giant needs New Zealand. Do they care enough to pay?\xa0

This Government can pass a law and introduce arbitration until they are blue in the face.\xa0

We are trying to make them pay the same way social media giants aren't supposed to allow extremists and dangerous material online, or lure impressionable teenagers to spend their life scrolling. Have those laws worked?\xa0

How many American and European investigations and committee question and answer sessions do you want to see where politicians act tough for the camera? Mark Zuckerberg might stand up and apologise to grieving families, but has it worked?\xa0

Yes, we have a problem. But do we have a solution?\xa0

It's probably worth the exercise, but don\u2019t be remotely surprised if in the real world it achieves next to nothing.\xa0

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