Gordon Campbell: On Fast Track Powers, Media Woes And The Tiktok Ban

There has been talk – and tentative moves were made by the previous government – of imposing a levy on the streaming services (eg Netflix, Prime, Disney +) and on Facebook,Youtube, Tik Tok etc. A reality check, though. New Zealand is far, far too small to bring the likes of Netflix, Google and Facebook to heel. California for example, is said to be the fifth largest economy in the world. Yet Meta and Google are threatening to cut off news items (and searches) about California if the state proceeds with its proposed California Journalism Preservation Act.