If Congress adopts legislation mandating that tech companies pay news outlets for their content, Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc. warned it will be “forced to consider” deleting news items from its platform.

If the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act is approved, news organizations will be able to bargain collectively with social media platforms about the conditions under which their content will appear on their websites.

“submit to government-mandated negotiations that unfairly disregard the value we provide to news outlets.”

“increased traffic and subscriptions.”

Meta spokesman Andy Stone.

Similar stances have previously been taken by Menlo Park, California-based Meta. After Australia passed legislation requiring tech companies to compensate publishers for using their news pieces, it momentarily barred news from its platform there last year. Later, it signed agreements with Australian publishers.

“The legislation simply allows news organizations to band together to negotiate better prices for their news content with “the biggest companies the world has ever known.”

“In one-quarter, Google made $66 billion in ad revenue while newspapers and little radio stations folded left and right,”

“We’re just simply trying to get a fair price for content.”

Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota and the bill’s sponsor.