Google Threatens to Shutter Search Engine in Australia; Lobbies Against Digital News Code

By: TJVNews.com

Tech giant Google, which is the world’s largest and most popular search engine on the internet, is now threatening to prevent Australian users from their services by shutting down, according to published reports. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the move would mean that Google would forfeit  approximately $4 billion in revenue. Google is ramping up its lobbying agenda against draft legislation that is intended to force it to pay news publishers for reuse of their content, according to a recent report on the Tech Crunch web site.

Google, which is worth $1.8 trillion warned in a statement on Friday that “the principle of unrestricted linking between websites is fundamental to Search. 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.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Google managing director Melanie Silva told a Senate committee hearing on Friday that Google would shut off search in Australia if the government’s proposed media bargaining code becomes law. Experts said the threat is not idle, with Google likely fearful the code could set a global precedent.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, “Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our Parliament. It’s done by our government, and that’s how things work here in Australia. People who want to work with that, in Australia, you’re very welcome. But we don’t respond to threats.”

The SMH reported that the code “aims to force digital platforms to pay media companies for news content, and follows a 12-month review into Google and Facebook by the competition watchdog. The legislation, which was introduced into the House of Representatives in December, comes amid a push by global governments to rein in the power of digital monopolies.

Google’s threats follow similar remarks made by Facebook Australia’s managing director Will Easton in September, who announced plans to remove news articles from the social media’s main app if the media code is passed by Parliament.”

Tech Crunch reported that “Facebook would also be subject to the law. Facebook has previously said it would ban news from being shared on its products owing if the law was brought in, as well as claiming it’s reduced its investment in the country as a result of the legislative threat.”

Google has changed its lobbying tactics since last summer, as they have jettisoned its attempt to derail the law entirely in favor of trying to reshape it to minimize the financial impact, according to the Tech Crunch report.

They are now focused on trying to eject the most harmful elements (as it sees it) of the draft legislation — while also pushing its News Showcase program, which it hastily spun up last year, as an alternative model for payments to publishers that it would prefer becomes the vehicle for remittances under the Code, as was reported by TechCrunch.

The SMH reported that “Australian media companies disputed the claims of the tech giants and urged the government to legislate immediately. Executives from News Corp Australia, Nine Entertainment Co (owner of this masthead) and Guardian Australia, presented a largely united front at the hearing, arguing the code would help ensure the long-term sustainability of local journalism and disputing claims the tech giants did not receive value from content.

The draft legislation for Australia’s digital news Code which is currently before the parliament includes a controversial requirement that tech giants Google and Facebook pay publishers for linking to their content — not merely for displaying snippets of text.”