Google says to block search engine in Australia if forced to pay for news

[rooster59 18,790]

Google says to block search engine in Australia if forced to pay for news

By Renju Jose

 

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google said on Friday it would block its search engine in Australia if the government proceeds with a new code that would force it and Facebook Inc to pay media companies for the right to use their content.

 

Google's threat escalates a battle with publishers such as News Corp that is being closely watched around the world. The search giant had warned that its 19 million Australian users would face degraded search and YouTube experiences if the new code were enforced.

 

Australia is on course to pass laws that would make tech giants negotiate payments with local publishers and broadcasters for content included in search results or news feeds. If they cannot strike a deal, a government-appointed arbitrator will decide the price.

 

"Coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk if this version of the Code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia," Mel Silva, managing director for Australia and New Zealand, told a senate committee.

 

Silva made no mention of YouTube in prepared remarks, as the video service is expected to be exempted under revisions to the code last month.

 

Google's comments drew a sharp rebuke from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison who said the country makes its rules for "things you can do in Australia."

 

"People who want to work with that in Australia, you're very welcome. But we don't respond to threats," Morrison told reporters.

 

At the inquiry, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims, who has overseen the new rules, said he could not predict what the tech giants would do but said "there's always brinkmanship in serious negotiations".

 

"They talk of commercial deals where they're in full control of the deal," he said. "In my view that's not a commercial deal."

 

Google has called the code overly broad and said that without revisions, offering even a limited search tool would be too risky.

The company does not disclose sales from Australia, but search ads are its biggest contributor to revenue and profit globally.

 

The United States government this week asked Australia to scrap the proposed laws, which have broad political support, and suggested Australia should pursue a voluntary code instead.

 

Australia announced the legislation last month after an investigation found Google and social media giant Facebook held too much market power in the media industry, a situation it said posed a potential threat to a well-functioning democracy.

 

Google's threat to limit its services in Australia came just hours after the internet giant reached a content-payment deal with some French news publishers as part of three-year, $1.3-billion push to support publishers.

 

Google's testimony "is part of a pattern of threatening behaviour that is chilling for anyone who values our democracy," said Peter Lewis, director of the Australia Institute's Centre for Responsible Technology.

 

(Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Byron Kaye and Gerry Doyle)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-23

 

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[Tropicalevo 6,322]

Excellent news.

Well done Australia.

Threats by these arrogant, social media leeches should be met head on.

There are  other search engines, and I would expect a few more to pop up now.

[PatOngo 47,559]

Take your Google and jam it where the the sun don't shine, Sunshine..................and while they're at it, they can jam Facebook and Twitter in the same orifice!

 

 

Edited January 23 by PatOngo

[ezzra 44,082]

Just look how Whatapp has folded like a cheap lawn chair when millions have abandon them and India PM told them to stop this nonsense as India has 500 million users...

[bkk6060 13,353]

 

 

Never heard of new search engines to just "pop up" especially with anything close to the content of goggle.

Anyway, good luck to Aus. Facebook has 2.7 billion users and Google over one billion.

Aus. users are a very very small part of their business doubt they will be missed much by these popular worldwide tech. giants. 

Edited January 23 by bkk6060

[scubascuba3 10,954]

If Oz hold their nerve other countries will follow

[sungod 4,894]

18 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

If Oz hold their nerve other countries will follow

Fingers crossed

[stevenl 29,758]

5 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Excellent news.

Well done Australia.

Threats by these arrogant, social media leeches should be met head on.

There are  other search engines, and I would expect a few more to pop up now.

Other search engines will have the same issues. Don't forget that the media that are shown on the search engine want a prominent position there. Search engines are providing a service requested by a client, free of charge. Why should they have to pay for that?

The main problem is the media not adapting fast enough.

[John Drake 1,771]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The United States government this week asked Australia to scrap the proposed laws, which have broad political support, and suggested Australia should pursue a voluntary code instead.

 

And this is the difference between a country where corporations control government (the US) and a country that controls the corporations (Australia).

[Thakkar 8,390]

22 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Other search engines will have the same issues. Don't forget that the media that are shown on the search engine want a prominent position there. Search engines are providing a service requested by a client, free of charge. Why should they have to pay for that?

The main problem is the media not adapting fast enough.

it’s a complicated situation.

news sites can actually block their content being searched by google so that google can’t profit off them. But then, since, for better or worse, google is so many people’s start page, the sites won’t get any traffic unless people go directly to them, which won’t be a lot. 
 

news sites were among the slowest to adapt to the new age, and they have paid a heavy price for that mistake. The public is also all the poorer. But news isn’t just any business. A well functioning democracy, not to mention the smooth running of capitalism, needs robust, independent, financially viable, and varied news media. 
 

while the news outlets need google more than google needs them, the fact is, the news outlets are struggling while google is making money hand over fist, and doing so partly because they have access to so much info produced by the news media. A listed company answerable to shareholders is not going to voluntarily give up some of that money to keep news orgs afloat, even if it (may)be in their long term interest. 
 

if governments don’t intervene to force some kind of compromise, we will all be poorer, even google.

[Opl 5,522]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Google's threat to limit its services in Australia came just hours after the internet giant reached a content-payment deal with some French news publishers as part of three-year, $1.3-billion push to support publishers.

"Google will end up giving about €150m to the French press over the next three years. The details show a mixture of a genuine and impactful arrangement and the usual convoluted dealings to make a new set of subsidies looking like a sound business deal."

Inside Google’s Deal with the French Media | by Frederic Filloux | Nov, 2020 | Monday Note

[natway09 5,292]

This discussion never came up when Murdoch's News Corp & his cronies Companies  basically had a stranglehold on the worlds media for how many years ?

 

[Salerno 4,532]

18 minutes ago, natway09 said:

This discussion never came up when Murdoch's News Corp & his cronies Companies  basically had a stranglehold on the worlds media for how many years ?

 

You mean the people wanting Google to pay them now because their business model hasn't kept up with the times?

 

Bit of a difference comparing the challenges they faced in the "good old days" to now; didn't really have someone scraping their printed edition as soon as it hit the street then reprinting it basically instantly.

[GreasyFingers 1,557]

Was the "banning" of the ABC from their search engine a commercial decision or a threat to the Oz government. I have no respect for the wimps running the government but I hope they grow some for this fight. They bowed to all of the lies from Pompeo so I will not hold my breath.

[Chomper Higgot 36,895]

This is nothing compared with what big tech are about to face in the US.

 

Well past the time these over powerful corporations were split up.