Remember when Google threatened to leave Australia if the country implemented a "news media bargaining code" forcing social media platforms to pay news publishers? Google and Facebook did not leave; they paid up, striking deals with news organizations to pay for the content they display on their sites for the first time.

Now countries around the world are looking at Australia’s code as a blueprint of how to subsidize the news and stop the spread of “news deserts”—communities that no longer have a local newspaper.

Australia is presently embroiled in two major showdowns with superpowers. One is with China. The other is with Google and Facebook.