Google Threatens To Cut Australia Off From Its Search Service

Google threatened to cut Australia off its search service if the country passes the bill that brings benefit to the news industry.

According to Mel Silva - Google Australia Managing Director during a Senate hearing in Canberra, the new bill won’t work and will change the way millions of Google users find content:

Silva said if the bill became law, users would be charged for links and snippets they see in Search. She also remarked that Google’s business model and service were built on a foundation that websites were linked freely.

News publishers and tech giants like Google and Facebook have been in conflict for years regarding the way these companies displaying news. Since they remain the dominant force in online advertising, according to critics, news publishers are left with what remaining after the two companies have had their huge shares.

The proposed legislation was put forward by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and it said the new bill allowed media outlets to bargain with Google and Facebook either collectively or individually. They could also enter arbitration if an agreement wasn’t reached after three months.

Here is what Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday:

Google hasn’t commented anything on what Morrison remarked.

Australian Users Will Face Consequences

Even since the bill was introduced last summer, both Facebook and Google have been vocally opposing it. In August 2020, Google displayed on its homepage a warning that the bill would affect their search ability and YouTube users would suffer.

In response to the proposed legislation, the search engine giant put forward three changes to make it fairer for news publishers.

One of the suggestions is News Showcase that Google introduced last year. Its aim is to pay publishers more than $1 billion in the next three years. The tech giant has already paid seven news publishers in Australia for their content.

Google also wants to amend a demand that compels the tech giant to notify news publishers whenever it changes the search algorithm. It said it would do so only to make sure the publishers are aware of the changes that would affect them.

An Ongoing Battle

Facebook is in the same boat.

During the Senate hearing, Facebook's vice president of public policy for Asia Pacific Simon Milner said it would resort to what Google intended to do – block news in Australia but he also said the company would help to make the law workable.

Milner cited a recent decision of Facebook to launch a new news product in the UK, not Australia, as an example of the deterrent effect of the bill on the investment prospect of the Australian news industry.

According to regulators, the purpose of the legislation is to create a fairer environment for Australian news media amid growing concern over the fact that many newsrooms have closed temporarily or permanently.

Rupert Murdoch – the billionaire who owns a lion’s share of the Australian news industry, questioned the benefit of the bill on his empire. Some other critics said such a law would hurt internet freedom.

According to Swinburne University media and communications lecturer Belinda Barnet, these arguments don’t carry a lot of weight. She said the bill would bring benefits to Guardian, Murdoch, ABC & SBS, and local papers.

Australia isn’t the only country where Google and Facebook face conflict with the news industry.

Last Thursday, the search engine giant said it would pay publishers in France for content. Under new copyright laws, Google might have to make similar agreements in other European countries.

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