CANBERRA (Reuters) - The architect of Australia’s laws forcing Google and Facebook to pay media companies for content claimed victory on Wednesday, though critics said last-minute changes to appease Facebook favoured Big Tech over smaller news outlets.

The first, they said, makes it clear that a decision to designate a platform under the code must take into account whether a digital platform has made a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Australian news industry through reaching commercial agreement with news media businesses.

He’s also doing mop-up work on a seminal Supreme Court case his firm litigated involving data brokers, those shadowy companies that collect and resell consumer information. Law firms working with state attorneys general create potential conflicts of interest, he says, including the risk of AGs being influenced by campaign contributions.

In part, the move comes out of Googler frustration that the the company has not ended arbitration agreements as it promised to after November’s Google walkout, organizers wrote in a Medium post today : The change yielded a win in the headlines, but provided no meaningful gains for worker equity … nor any actual change in employee contracts or future offer letters.