JUST IN – Google threatens to block its search engine in Australia if the government proceeds with a new code that would force it and Facebook to pay media companies for the right to use their content. looks like after successfully campaign against the former US President Donald Trump, Now big tech threatening free speech loving countries.
Google has threatened to remove its search engine from Australia over the nation’s attempt to make the tech giant share royalties with news publishers.
“Google seems to be overboard with their too big to fail mentality. They better ask their once upon a time big brother yahoo! what’sup” One of the netizens commented on the issue with this tech companies like Google and Facebook.
Search giant’s local managing director said the company has assessed the impact of the legislation and come to the conclusion it would be an untenable risk for its Australian operations.
Google, alongside Facebook, has been engaged in a stoush with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) since August over the code that entered the House of Representatives in late December.
The bargaining code, according to the government, is necessary to address the fundamental bargaining power imbalances between Australian news media businesses and major digital platforms.
But according to Google, the code is “unfair” as it puts the “way Aussies’ search at risk”. Google believes it contains an unfair arbitration process that “ignores the real-world value Google provides to news publishers and opens up to enormous and unreasonable demands”.
Speaking before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on Friday, Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Mel Silva said her company is most concerned with the code’s requirement to pay for links and snippets in Search.
She said this requirement would set an untenable precedent for her business and the digital economy, which echoed remarks from other submissions made to the committee that the code is not compatible with how search engines work or how the internet works.
“The principle of unrestricted linking between websites is fundamental to Search and 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,” she said.
“That would be a bad outcome for us, but also for the Australian people, media diversity, and the small businesses who use our products.
“The free service we offer to Australian users and our business model has been built on the ability to link freely … this is a key building block of the internet. Withdrawing our services from Australia is the last thing that I or Google want to have happen, especially when there is another way forward.”
Senators referred to Silva’s remarks as blackmail and while she did not deny such a thing, she said pulling Search is the “worst case scenario”.
“We, like any rational business, needs to assess the impact of any legislative change on our business, our product, and our operations. It is the only rational choice if this law were to pass, for us,” she said.
“We’ve assessed the impact of this legislation on our business and it is untenable risk for our Australian operations.
Google is proposing technical amendments that would allow it to pay publishers for value, without breaking Search.
One such amendment is to allow News Showcase. A workable code, Google said previously, would guarantee remuneration of news media businesses by designating News Showcase — which it has paused from launching in Australia — and similar offerings featuring licensed news content.
“Payment for deals in News Showcase would operate to ensure payment for commercial value,” Google said in its submission to the committee. “Binding arbitration and the application of minimum obligations to News Showcase agreements under the code would ensure a framework for good faith negotiations.”
Silva said Google had struck seven deals with Australian publishers under News Showcase before it paused the rollout due to negotiations on the code. She said Google has made a 25% good faith payment to those seven publishers, despite the program not going ahead.
Silva said Google would “love” to continue making deals under Showcase in Australia, but the code is making that difficult.
“We’ve been trying to do those deals — the connection of Google Search as the designated product, as well as its tie to the arbitration criteria, means its nigh impossible to get those Showcase deals done,” she said.
“We have done deals through Showcase but the way the code is written now, a publisher can look at that and if we don’t make an offer that’s valuable for them, they can go and arbitrate on Search in a one-sided process with costs and criteria that’s heavily skewed in their favour.
Source : ZD Net, Reuters, Social Media
