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Google on Friday threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia if authorities approved a law requiring it to pay news publishers for their content.
The Silicon Valley titan has stepped up its aggressive fight against the proposal, saying the measure “would break the way Google works” because the company would have to pay to post links to news articles.
“This code creates unreasonable and unmanageable financial and operational risk for our business,” Google Australia chief executive Mel Silva said in an open letter, echoing comments she made to an Australian Senate committee.
“If the code were to become law in its current form, we would have no choice but to stop making Google search available in Australia.”
The controversial proposal would allow news companies to negotiate payments from Google and Facebook for the use of their content that appears in search results or news feeds. An arbitrator would decide the price if the parties are unable to come to an agreement.
Google previously said the measure would put its free services – including its search engine and YouTube – “at risk” in Australia if it becomes law. Google now says YouTube would not be affected by the proposal in its current form.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hit back at Google’s threat to block access to search, saying the country has rules for “what you can do in Australia.”
“People who want to work with this in Australia, you are welcome. But we don’t respond to threats, ”Morrison said.
Google’s offensive came after US trade officials Daniel Bahar and Karl Ehlers called on Australia to drop the bill, saying it would be “to the obvious detriment of two US companies.”
The proposal has broad political backing and is backed by publishers such as News Corp., which owns The Post and publishes eight of Australia’s top 10 newspapers.
With pole wires
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