Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wants the Competition Commission to impose an unassailable obligation on Google, Meta and X to give more prominence to trustworthy news content on their platforms.
(Photo Illustration by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wants the Competition Commission to impose an unassailable obligation on Google, Meta and X to give more prominence to trustworthy news content on their platforms.
It is one of the key proposals made by the RSF in a submission to the commission in response to its provisional report on the fraught dynamics of digital news distribution.
The report, published in February, moots imposing a tariff of 5% to 10% on tech companies if they fail to agree to pay media houses fairly for the news content disseminated on their sites.
But it goes beyond proposals to force platforms to compensate financially for the harm inflicted on the news industry to compel them to make structural changes in the way they operate in South Africa.
“The unequal bargaining position has resulted in an inequitable sharing of user data and insights between Google and news publishers,” it says.
Crucially, it calls for an end to algorithmic bias by YouTube Meta, and X, which demotes news content, often in favour of sensationalism, and urges Google to make search engine design choices that steer more traffic to news sites, in particular local sites prejudiced by its prioritisation of foreign media.
“These issues are exacerbated by SEO [search engine optimisation] requirements and core algorithm updates, where there is insufficient transparency on how media will be affected and how to avoid traffic loss.”
The RSF said the report provided a roadmap for a regulatory regime, both in South Africa and elsewhere, that would hold tech giants to account for the quality of the sources of information to which they direct their users.
“The South African Competition Commission has delivered an inspiring preliminary report that clearly recognises journalism’s value in the content circulating on online platforms,” said Vincent Berthier, the head of the RSF’s technology and journalism desk.
He said its report highlighted the difficulty in building viable funding models for online news publications in an environment dominated by a handful of unregulated actors which have become de facto gatekeepers to journalistic content.
“Its conclusions lay the groundwork for a democratic, ambitious regulatory approach to social media and generative AI in South Africa and beyond. It is encouraging to see a public authority acknowledge that these companies bear responsibility for the quality of the information they make accessible.”
The commission’s 16-month inquiry that culminated in the report was prompted by concern that platforms that distribute news content operate along lines that distort and impede competition, violating the norms that underpin the Competition Act.
As a statutory body, the commission frames its findings as an attempt to mitigate the threat the platforms’ conduct poses to constitutional rights, starting with that of receiving and imparting information, in a relatively young democracy.
The RSF noted that this is a concern in democracies around the world.
“Given their dominant role in the information ecosystem, digital platforms must recognise their democratic responsibility to ensure access to trusted sources of information online,” it wrote in its submission.
“Their commercial logic must not obstruct the dissemination of quality journalism — especially on matters of significant public interest.”
The RSF’s warning of gatekeeping by platforms comes amid an ongoing Meta blackout of news content on Facebook and Instagram as Canada heads to the polls for snap elections.
The news ban was imposed in response to the passage of Canada’s Online News Act in 2023, which compels tech companies to pay news outlets for using their content, and has seen conservative activist groups flood the information void in the run-up to the vote.
Tech giants are expected to push back against the recommendations outlined in the report, and Berthier called on the commission to prevent a similar scenario in South Africa.
“Platforms must not be allowed to reduce the visibility of press content without consultation — for instance, by removing it from search results or news feeds — especially in response to proposed legislation,” he said.
“These practices — which have already been executed by Meta in Australia and Canada and Google in nine countries, including seven in Europe — harm media diversity and the public’s right to reliable information.”
In a blog published on 31 March, Charles Murito, Google’s regional director for government affairs and public policy in sub-Saharan Africa, said the Competition Commission’s provisional report ignores the fact that “the way people interact with news has changed dramatically” and instead “seeks to resurrect outdated business models”.
“The commission’s recommendations, if implemented, would force one platform to subsidise certain publishers artificially based on inaccurate calculations on the perceived value of news to Google’s business. This would also restrict access to information, stifle innovation, and disrupt monetisation and future investment,” Murito wrote.
“We will continue to collaborate with the industry and the Competition Commission to find balanced solutions for the news ecosystem’s future, and to invest in tools that help all publishers adapt and innovate. However, placing all the responsibility for the change in the way people access news exclusively onto Google misses the mark.”
The commission’s provisional report also calls for Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Meta to allow South African news publishers to opt out of AI summaries in search results and on AI chatbots, without it negatively affecting site traffic.
As with search engines, AI chatbots summarise news queries but often provide limited source links — unlikely to yield meaningful referral traffic to news websites, it says.
Foxglove, a UK-based nonprofit that champions tech accountability, urged the commission to finalise AI legislation to mitigate associated harms and ensure oversight.
The nonprofit supports a proposed 1% copyright levy and recommends watermark requirements for AI-generated content to help users identify synthetic material.
“The rise of generative AI poses a significant risk to the integrity of journalism — particularly through the spread of misinformation, deepfakes and synthetic content that can manipulate public perception. Without regulatory oversight, these tools can distort facts, undermine trust in credible sources and create a chaotic information ecosystem that disadvantages professional journalism,” Foxglove said in its own submission.
The report, a final version of which is expected later this year, calls for rebalancing the financial dividends and user data extracted by big tech — factors that have contributed to the erosion of local media.
To achieve a fairer share of the value chain created by user data and referral traffic, it cites data sharing as a means to empower news publishers to generate revenue and calls for the removal of restrictive digital barriers.