Thank you Donald

The Herald reports:

The future of a proposed law that would force Facebook and Google to help fund the New Zealand journalism that contributes to their megabillion-dollar empires appears uncertain, in the wake of Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on countries that target US companies.

As the NZ Herald revealed in December, the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill has been placed on hold. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith had opted to instead wait to see how the Australian Government handled the global tech giants with its own enhanced legislation.

But the Aussies have now taken fright themselves, delaying any plans to toughen its laws in the wake of the tariff threats from the US president.

Well that is an unexpected benefit of President Trump – he’ll stop the NZ Government from progressing an unethical tax on tech companies to fund legacy media companies.

I would prefer the Government not proceed because it is an awful idea – both in principle and likely practice, but failing that I’ll settle for not proceeding to avoid trade sanctions.