U.S. legislators offer a bill to assist the news industry in negotiations with Google and Facebook

On Monday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers presented an amended version of a measure that intends to make it easier for news organizations to negotiate with platforms like Google and Facebook collectively (NASDAQ:META).

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, according to a news release from the lawmakers, "removes legal hurdles to news organizations' ability to negotiate collectively and get fair terms from gatekeeper platforms that routinely access news material without paying for its value."

The group consists of Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, Republican Senator John Kennedy, and Democratic Representative David Cicilline and Republican Representative Ken Buck, all of whom are members of the House Judiciary Committee.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, to which Meta Platforms' Facebook and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGLGoogle) belong, opposed a March 2021 version of the proposed legislation.

The proposed measure would apply to news publishers with less than 1,500 full-time staff and independent broadcasters. According to the press release, they would be able to work together to negotiate better arrangements with Facebook, Google, and other massive platforms.

The Act of 2021 would have applied to any print, broadcast, or online news organization with a committed editorial team and at least a weekly publication schedule.