Google threatens to stop search in Australia

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At a Senate hearing in Canberra on Friday, Google (GOOGL) Australia chief executive Mel Silva said the bill “remains unworkable” and “will break” the way millions of users search for content online.
“If this version of the Code becomes law, it would leave us with no choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” she told lawmakers. “It would be a bad result not only for us, but also for the Australian people, the diverse media and the small businesses that use Google search.”

The company’s main concern with the proposal is that it “would require payments just for links and snippets only for news results in search,” according to Silva.

“The free service that we provide to Australian users and our business model is based on the ability to freely link between websites,” she said.

Google and Facebook have argued for years with publishers over how they display their content, with media companies arguing that tech giants should pay them the privilege. Critics from both tech companies point out that as they dominate the online advertising industry, it puts news publishers in a bind and leaves them on the hunt for scraps.

The new legislation would allow certain media outlets to negotiate individually or collectively with Facebook and Google – and to resort to arbitration if the parties fail to reach an agreement within three months, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which published The law project. legislation.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison hit back at Google later on Friday.

“Let me be clear. Australia sets our rules for what you can do in Australia. It’s done in our parliament. It’s done by our government and that’s how things work here in Australia and people who want to work with that in Australia, you “We are welcome,” he told a press conference. “But we are not responding to threats.”

When asked about Morrison’s remarks, Google declined to comment.

A warning of “ consequences ”

The two US tech companies have strongly opposed the code since its introduction last summer. Last August, Google used its homepage to warn Australians that the bill would hurt their search ability and have “consequences” for YouTube users.
Conflict between Google and Australian regulators heats up

The US giant is now proposing three changes to the code, including how it would pay news publishers.

One suggestion is that News Showcase – a program launched by Google last year that aims to pay publishers over $ 1 billion over the next three years – be formalized and expanded in Australia. The company already pays seven publishers nationwide for content.

The company also wants to change a requirement that would require Google to notify publishers of changes to its algorithm, saying it should only do so “to ensure that publishers are able to respond to changes that affect them.”

“There is a clear path to fair and workable code,” said Silva. “Taking our services out of Australia is the last thing Google or I want to happen, especially when there is another way forward.”

An aggressive battle

Facebook (FB) also grows back.

At the same Senate hearing on Friday, Simon Milner, Facebook’s vice president of public policy for Asia-Pacific, said the company could eventually block news content in Australia, although he stressed his commitment “to make the law applicable”.

Milner told lawmakers there was already a “chilling effect of this law on investment in the Australian news industry,” citing a recent Facebook decision to launch an information product in the UK instead. than in Australia.

“Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said that this precedent set by this law could” render the Web unusable in the world “,” he added, citing the inventor of the Web.
Google agrees to pay French publishers for news

Regulators say the legislation is needed to level the playing field for news media in Australia, as newsrooms across the country have cut service, closed temporarily or permanently.

Similar cases have emerged in other countries. On Thursday, Google said it would pay news posts in France for the use of their online content in a landmark deal that may soon be replicated elsewhere in Europe under new copyright laws. ‘author.

– Hanna Ziady contributed to this report.

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