Microsoft and Google have a nasty talk about journalism competition and preservation law



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Microsoft and Google are clashing over new bipartisan legislation that would help digital media companies and newspapers negotiate with big tech companies.

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which was introduced in the House and Senate, would allow small news agencies to negotiate fees with the world’s big tech companies – like Google and Facebook – who share their content for free. .

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Microsoft has expressed support for the legislation while Google opposes its passage in both chambers, and the two companies issued statements on Friday attacking each other for their respective positions on the bill.

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, targeted what he described as Google’s dominance in the digital advertising market in his written testimony for Friday’s competition hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on antitrust, commercial and administrative law. He noted that Google captured “about a third of all digital ad revenue in the United States last year.”

Microsoft’s Brad Smith (YouTube screenshot / House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law)

Google “is the dominant technology company in virtually every corner of the digital advertising ecosystem,” Smith said, citing its Search Ads, Ad Tech, Ad Exchange, Ad Tech Tools and Global Consumer Dataset branches as examples. of the wide reach of the tech giant in the world. digital advertising market.

“News agencies have an inventory of ads to sell, but they can no longer sell directly to those who want to place ads. Instead, for all intents and purposes, they have to use Google’s tools, operate on Google ad exchanges, provide data to Google operations and pay Google money, ”he said.

AUSTRALIA ADOPTS LAW TO MAKE GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK PAY FOR NEWS

Smith added that “Google has effectively transformed itself into the ‘front page’ of news, taking ownership of the relationship with readers and relegating news content on their properties to commodity,” and suggested to Congress ” to move forward with competition law and the preservation of journalism; and to allow news organizations to bargain collectively with online content distributors. “

Kent Walker, senior vice president of global affairs at Google, responded to Smith’s testimony in a statement on Friday listing the company’s efforts to support digital journalism, including a $ 1 billion investment in licensing. of news content via its News Showcase function over three years.

A Google app in Baltimore. (AP Photo / Patrick Semansky, file)

Walker then criticized Microsoft’s systems for “vulnerabilities” after the software company announced in December that SolarWinds hackers had gained access to some of its source code used to create software products.

AUSTRALIA ADOPTS LAW TO MAKE GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK PAY FOR NEWS

“Microsoft is the second largest company in the United States by market capitalization and owner of LinkedIn, MSN, Microsoft News, and Bing, all of which are places where information is regularly consumed and shared,” Walker said. “But their track record is uneven: They’ve paid the news industry a lot less than we do. And given the ability to support or fund their own journalists, Microsoft has replaced them with AI bots. . “

He added that Google “will continue to work with news agencies and policymakers around the world to enable a strong future for journalism.”

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The row between the two companies and the Chamber of Judges hearing comes after Australia and France pushed big tech companies to consider paying for the news they present on their respective websites to help fund the information industry.

Google announced deals in February to pay publishers in Australia after the country passed a law that would allow the country’s government to price deals with news organizations if negotiations between tech companies and tech companies fail. publishers.

The company initially threatened to completely withdraw its search engine function in Australia if the country passed the law.

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Hillary Vaughn of Fox Business contributed to this report.

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