In an escalation of its ongoing stalemate with the Australian government, tech giant Google has threatened to disable its search engine in the country if it is made to pay local media outlets for sharing links to their reports.
News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, new legislation proposed by the government, aims at compensating publishers and broadcasters for the value generated by their content. In case both parties cannot reach a mutually agreed-upon decision with regard to payment negotiations, a government-appointed arbitrator will ultimately take a call on the price. Facebook Inc. is the other company that will also come under this pay-for-sharing-links rule.
The code is intended to offer support to the local media industry, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which have been struggling to cope with the digital economy.
If the code is enforced and Google decides to pull out of the country, nearly 19 million Australians who use the search engine every month and 17 million who wish to see or post news articles on Facebook every month will be affected. The two digital platforms have been opposing the proposed law, which Mel Silva, managing director for Google in Australia and New Zealand, has labelled as “unworkable” while pin-pointedly objecting to the payment model for showing news links in search results.
“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,” Silva told a senate committee on Friday.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not take too kindly to Google’s ultimatum and said Parliament decides the rules that businesses must follow in Australia. He added, “people who want to work with that in Australia, you’re very welcome. But we don’t respond to threats”.
Google’s stance also invited criticism from lawmakers at the Parliamentary hearing. Senator Andrew Bragg said the company’s ultimatum was an attempt to “blackmail” Australians and policymakers.
