Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Photographer: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg
Google has threatened to turn off its search engine in Australia if it is forced to pay local publishers for the news, a dramatic escalation of a few months with the government.
The proposed law, intended to compensate publishers for the value their stories generate for the company, is “unachievable,” Mel Silva, general manager for Australia and New Zealand, said in a parliamentary hearing on Friday. It specifically opposed the requirement for Google to pay media companies to display snippets of articles in search results.
Google sees a deal under the world’s first law to pay for news
The threat is Google’s strongest yet as the digital giant tries to stop a stream of global regulatory action. At least 94% of online searches in Australia go through Alphabet Inc., according to the local competition authority.
“We are not responding to threats,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday. “Australia sets our rules for the things you can do in Australia. That is what is being done in our parliament. It is made by our government. And that’s how things work here in Australia. ”
Facebook Inc., the only other company covered by the law, also opposes the law. The social media platform reiterated in Friday’s meeting that it intends to block Australians from sharing news on Facebook if the law is promoted.
Facebook is sending a threatening warning to the Australian News
The legislation is designed to support a local media industry, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which has struggled to adapt to the digital economy. Google’s tougher stance has drawn criticism from lawmakers at the meeting. Senator Andrew Bragg accused the tech giant of trying to “blackmail” Australians and political decision makers.
“If this version of the code became law, it would give us no choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” Silva told a group of senators. She described the law as an “unbearable financial and operational precedent”.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, reached a deals with French press publishers after the competition authority asked her to pay for the content. Last year it no longer displayed the results of news from European publishers on search results for French users, in order to comply with copyright laws.
– With the assistance of Jason Scott