Wall Street Slips as Oil Prices Surge 5% on Iran-Hormuz Uncertainty 
Austal Shares Surge 16% as Hanwha Offers Up to $1.2 Billion for U.S. Shipbuilding Business 
Goldman Sachs Sees US Stock Buybacks Outpacing Equity Issuance as AI Funding Rises 
Yen Stabilizes After Intervention Slide as Australian Dollar Hits Eight-Week High 
OpenAI Executive Brad Lightcap to Leave for New AI Venture 
Oil Prices Rise as Hormuz Tensions Threaten Global Supply 
Berkshire Hathaway Cash Falls as Abel Boosts Stock Buybacks 
Iran War Escalates as US, Houthis Target Ships Near Key Oil Routes 
Singapore Raises 2026 GDP Growth Forecast as AI Demand Fuels Economy 
Nvidia Seen Beating Q2 Targets as Vera Rubin Cycle Begins 
ASX Faces Legal Action Over Failed Blockchain CHESS Project 
Shein Scales Back Vietnam Operations as US Trade Rules Shift 
Mercedes-Benz Stock Offers Deep-Value Potential as Citi Sees Recovery Catalysts 
Asian Currencies Steady as Markets Await U.S. Inflation Data 
Airbus Joins Air India A320 Altitude Drop Probe 
Australia Sets New Minimum Pay, Insurance Rules for Gig Workers 
Dollar Steady as Markets Await U.S. Inflation Data 
The European Union is reportedly mulling on going after big tech companies, including Google and Facebook, by asking for news content payments. The EU is said to have warned that it may copy Australia for its new media law.
EU’s possible new law on news publishing
The members of the European parliament issued a warning directed at tech firms regarding the EU’s plans to revamp its media policies. The new law may force Google and the others to pay for news just like what the Australian legislation is set to implement.
Moreover, the Financial Times mentioned that the MEPs are working on the European Union’s digital market's legislation and stated that the revisions might match the set binding rules for licensing agreements in news media. For the license, it was said that some of the requirements could include asking tech companies to inform publishers about how the news stories are ranked on their respective platforms.
Maltese MEP, Alex Saliba, stated that Australia’s media bargaining code actually fixed “acute bargaining power imbalances” with news publishers. Thus, the EU is also considering making its own version and implementing it as a policy.
“With their dominant market position in search, social media and advertising, large digital platforms create power imbalances and benefit significantly from news content,” Saliba told FT. “I think it is only fair that they pay back a fair amount.”
Why the digital news publishing laws are being revamped
As per the Daily Mail, the Copyright in the Digital Single Market is being revised to make sure that it will be a well-functioning marketplace for copyright as intended. This is also to protect press publications by lessening the “value gap” between the revenues earned by web platforms and content creators.
With these revisions on internet copyrights that the Australians started last month, Google threatened to pull out from Australia. Facebook also warned that it would remove news content from Australia if the new code is passed.
But then, the Australian officials are unfazed, and they are determined to make tech companies pay for news. And today, it seems that the EU is in agreement with this and may soon publish a similar law to collect payments for news stories.
