HKFP joins the SPUR Coalition to defend original reporting against unpaid use by AI
Hong Kong Free Press has become an associate member of the SPUR Coalition as we seek a fair, rules-based relationship with the AI firms who have been benefitting from our newsroom’s journalism without payment. Initiated this February by organisations including the BBC, Financial Times, Sky News and the Guardian, the coalition aims to shape the […]
The Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) has joined the SPUR Coalition, an alliance of media organizations dedicated to safeguarding original journalism against unauthorized use by AI companies. This comes as AI firms have been profiting from newsrooms' reporting without payment, stripping away audiences and revenue that should rightfully belong to the original creators.
The SPUR Coalition, which was launched in February by organizations such as the BBC, Financial Times, Sky News, and the Guardian, aims to establish rules, standards, and infrastructure that will enable a constructive relationship between news media and tech companies.
As one of the first news organizations in Hong Kong to sign up, HKFP is taking a proactive stance to defend its original journalism. The move is part of HKFP's commitment to leading the charge in protecting and monetizing local journalism in the era of generative AI. This is particularly relevant given that HKFP's work was identified as the most cited Hong Kong news dataset in Google's AI training model back in 2023.
While HKFP's journalism is available for free, it does not come without cost to the newsroom. The archive of 30,000 news stories, which has powered the careers of dozens of journalists, was largely made possible by reader donations that exceeded HK$35 million. This archive is now at risk of being misused by AI companies without proper compensation.
Big tech companies are taking advantage of the public square, using AI to stripmine news websites without permission or compensation. They take the work of news organizations, repurpose it as their own, and siphon off the audiences and revenue that should go to the creators. The SPUR Coalition aims to set ground rules and create technical tools to protect intellectual property and enable the transparent use of journalistic work.
Membership, however, is not free, and there are calls for support from readers who wish to help defend local, original journalism.
Written by urgent.news from Hong Kong Free Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
