America's News Media Alliance says protections would still be needed if Facebook were to license news on its platform.

President and chief executive David Chavern says questions such as which publishers would be included, what kinds of terms would be offered, and what it would mean for local journalism in particular, still need to be answered.

"Licensing and paying for news content is a good idea, and continued access to quality journalism would be an absolute good for Facebook users," he says.

The industry would also still be faced with the fact that Facebook holds vastly greater bargaining power than any single publisher, "even the very largest ones", he says.

"Facebook is already a de facto regulator of the news publishing industry and simply can't be trusted to determine the future of our free press."

He says publishers needed an even playing field to collectively fight for quality journalism, and that the proposed Journalism Competition and Preservation Act was needed to get there.