“The Malaysian news media industry cannot just sit back and mourn its fate and position in the face of technology giants dominating the digital advertisement expenditure (Adex) market,” said communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil.

He added that the government may also consider introducing a legal framework to smoothen the negotiations, if necessary.

The minister said it is no longer feasible for news organisations to supply information for free to technology giants, and called for a concerted effort to immediately address the issue.

“It is unfair for big technology companies to use their power to acquire local content for free and sell it to advertisers for their own profit, when producing high-quality journalistic work requires huge investments,” he said.

Fahmi said this in his speech during the closing ceremony of the National Media Forum 2023, organised by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI).

The text of his speech was read by the ministry’s deputy secretary-general (strategic communications and creative industry), Mastura Mustafa, here today.

Meanwhile, Fahmi said that the special committee recently established by the Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association (MNPA), for the purpose of the negotiation, is a good development.

However, he acknowledged that it only represents the large mainstream media in its current form.

“To ensure that small and medium sized media are not sidelined in negotiations with Google and Facebook, they also need to be involved (in the discussions).

“Otherwise, these tech giants will go ‘pecah dan perintah’ (divide and rule), making efforts to get fair compensation and payment for the entire industry ineffective,” he said.