MP calls for drafting law to combat Facebook, Google’s duopoly

CAIRO - 11 July 2017: A parliamentarian will submit a proposal to the House of Representatives to draft a law to regulate the digital advertising market, amid global efforts taken by a group of editors-in-chief, particularly in U.S., against Facebook and Google duopoly.

Lawmaker Mustafa Bakry told Egypt Today on Tuesday that a number of other parliamentarians will submit a request for drafting a law against the duopoly of digital ads.

“The situation became very difficult as they (the social media and search engines) gain profits on the expenses of Egyptian media outlets. We have to move like other countries do,” to save their news industry, Bakry added.

Bakry did not go in further details, adding that they Parliament members will discuss the proposal before submitting it.

Since November 2015, Egyptian online newspaper voiced their fears over the future of the digital newspapers; Youm7 Editor-in-Chief Khaled Salah has published on November 17, 2015 an article on the threats Egyptian news industry could face as enormous amount of revenues go to Facebook and Google.

“The online news industry in Egypt and the Arab world may face a major threat from some global social media companies of Facebook and Twitter, etc, and of Google, which dominate major fields of advertising market worldwide,” Salah said.

Also on his Twitter account on June 30, 2016, Salah has called on the Parliament to impose taxation on Facebook and Google’s ads.

شخصياً وبإسم صناعة الصحافة المطبوعة والالكترونية أطالب الدولة والبرلمان بفرض ضرائب مضاعفة على كل الإعلانات فى جوجل وفيس بوك حماية للصحافة

— Khaled Salah (@Youm7Khaled) June 30, 2016

Being reachable and accessible for millions of people worldwide, the two companies managed to pull big share of the online ads without paying taxes.

The two companies dominate 20 percent of the global advertising market in 2016, according to data and analysis agency Zenith in May 2017. Google has attacked $79.4 billion in ad revenues in 2016, while Facebook got $26.9 billion.

In April at the Top CEO conference in Jeddah, Middle East media executives expressed their concerns over two giants’ duopoly, calling on the governments to move draw up taxation on the two companies, Arab News reported on Monday.

A number of U.S. media giants formed a coalition under the title of “News Media Alliance” as the two companies dominate 70 percent of digital advertising industry.