We'd rather go down in Down Under, says Google: Search biz threatens to quit Australia if forced to pay for news
- Reference: 1611359352
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/01/22/google_australia_search_threat/
- Source link:
The [1]News Media Bargaining Code , [2]proposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last year, would give publishers the rights to bargain individually or collectively with Google and Facebook over how much they should be compensated whenever their articles appear on the tech goliaths' platforms. We're talking snippets of stories in search results and link previews, up to whole articles.
[3]
The Aussie government says it's pushing for the legislation to protect its nation's journalism industry. At a Senate hearing on Friday in Canberra, both Silicon Valley giants argued back, with Google threatening to cut off Google Search for all of Australia if the proposed code was passed and enforced.
Google rejects Australia’s revised pay-for-news plan, proposes its own plan instead [4]READ MORE
[5]
“The principle of unrestricted linking between websites is fundamental to Search,” Mel Silva, VP of Google Australia and New Zealand, [6]said in her opening statement at the [7]hearing . “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.”
Considering more than 90 per cent of the world uses Google Search, that would be quite a blow to Oz's netizens, who would have to turn to other search engines like Bing or DuckDuckGo. If Google does, indeed, block off its search operation in Australia, it’d have to give up the revenues it makes off advertising Down Under.
“That would be a bad outcome not just for us, but for the Australian people, media diversity and small businesses who use Google Search,” Silva added. She argued that accepting the legislation would set an “untenable precedent” for its business.
The French method
Getting companies like Google and Facebook to pay publishers for their news isn’t too crazy of an idea. France passed a law that requires Google to negotiate with and pay publishers for reusing content under European Union copyright rules. In fact, Google announced it had agreed to do just that earlier this week. “[The] agreement with [Alliance de la Presse d'Information Générale] is a major step forward,” Sébastien Missoffe, CEO of Google France, said in a [8]statement .
“It confirms Google's commitment to compensate publishers appropriately under French law, and opens up new opportunities for our publisher partners. We are happy to contribute to the development of news publishers in the digital age, to further support journalism.”
The deal, however, only applies to publishers participating in Google’s [9]News Showcase , a product announced last year that curates articles from selected publications. We're not on the list but if anyone wants to put in a good word for us, don't let us stop you [our invite probably got lost in the post – ed.]
Given Google played ball in France, and is threatening to pull the plug in Australia, we can only assume the ads giant is acting tough to sway the legislative process in its favor Down Under.
Head of Facebook Australia & New Zealand Will Easton, meanwhile, [10]said that “more work is needed to incentivise open commercial negotiations rather than an untested and unpredictable arbitration approach” detailed under Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code.
“We believe that deals reflecting genuine commercial value from both publishers and Facebook can still be reached before applying serious penalties under the law. We urge the government to address the unworkable components of this law.”
[11]
Google and Facebook declined to comment further. ®
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[1] https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/digital-platforms/draft-news-media-bargaining-code#draft-code-q-amp-as
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/09/final_australian_news_bargaining_code/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YAutadG1UCC5rAhPhPHiMwAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/18/google_australia_news_plan/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YAutadG1UCC5rAhPhPHiMwAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-asia/australia/mel-silvas-opening-statement
[7] https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/TLABNewsMedia
[8] https://france.googleblog.com/2021/01/APIG-Google.html
[9] https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/google-news-initiative/google-news-showcase/
[10] https://australia.fb.com/post/our-response-to-australias-proposed-news-media-laws/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YAutadG1UCC5rAhPhPHiMwAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: That's the Australian govt, always sticking up for the little guy...
The Liberals would probably have done this for anyone.
Whoever holds the seat of power, whether it is Liberal, Labour, Greens or even Clive Palmer or Pauline Hanson, will have to "kowtow" to News Corp. No politician has the cajones to go against Rupert demands.
And Rupert wants Google/Facebook to pay or else his worldwide paper empire will close for good.
Re: That's the Australian govt, always sticking up for the little guy...
The Greens! Hah! If they had their way News Corp would be broken up, and I'm all for it. It's the only major party that isn't cowed by Murdoch and there's nothing The Greens could do to gain his support without abandoning their principles. Quite unlike the other majors, I should note.
Hanson doesn't have to kowtow to them because she's [i]right[/i] up their alley. Palmer, while he was still remotely relevant, was a simple populist who happily flutters whichever way the News Corp wind is blowing if it means some support.
Stop fcuking about and blackhole 5.0.0.0/8
As they say, don't give in to ransom, don't pay up and let criminal organisations profit from crime.
The News Media Bargaining Code , proposed demanded by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission News Corp last year
TFTFY, TYVM
Farewell then
This seems rather risky for Google. Not because Australia is an especially important market for them, but because a few days after they make good on the threat, there will be millions more people in an advanced economy who know they don't need Google. That kind of thing can spread very quickly and would completely destroy the company. The alternative, caving in, seems just as bad given the path they've chosen.
Seriously, don't let the door hit you on the way out. It's tough to know whom we'd miss less, Google or News Corp, but I'm sure that either way it'll be at most a few days before people learn to type something else into their browsers after which life will go on as always. Few dead/banished corporations are mourned, and nearly all are forgotten almost immediately. No reason to think either will be an exception.
Re: Farewell then
Agreed. I also think it is important for people to realize Google isn't the internet. It isn't a human right to access, it is simply a product from a competitive company.
People knowing that the pettiness of Google can cause them to lose access at any second.
Great! Off you pop.
It's not like there aren't alternatives.
Re: Great! Off you pop.
"It's not like there aren't alternatives."
Certainly there are, but will the politicians see them? They, as a class, don't know much about technology. They have people to deal with that. I expect that many of them have staff that print out their emails and make notes by hand for a staff member to type in and send in response.
Bye, and chewy on ya boot!
Google can piss off any time they like.
Take your tax avoidance scheme elsewhere.
Let Rupe’s empire die on the vine naturally.
It's Copyright plain and simple.
If Google is just linking to a news site with the headline of an article and a bit of the leading text, that's a good thing for the news source. If they are delivering the whole article or a significant chunk, there is no reason for people to follow the link and get bombarded by the advertising on the news site in addition to the news site being able to harvest their info. I see that as theft of content and Google/FB using somebody else's content to make money.
Is this the most stupid thing ever said by a google employee?
If we cannot rip off off Fairfax and News corp content in order to sell ads that have moved from them to use then we cannot operate in your country. I have never supported rupert, by for all I care google can just fuck on off back to the states and serve it state side shite downunder.
That's the Australian govt, always sticking up for the little guy...
I'm quite certain the fact they're gunning so hard for this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that NewsCorp have 60+ percent of the Australian Market. Completely irrelevant I expect. The Liberals would probably have done this for anyone.