Google threatens to withdraw searches from Australia if forced to pay news publishers for content

If the Australian government implements a law requiring technology platforms to pay news publishers to display news stories in search results, Google threatens to withdraw its search engine from Australia, a country with more than 20 million Internet users.

“If this version [media] The code will become law, and it will give us no choice but to stop providing Google searches in Australia,” Google Australia and New Zealand vice president Melanie Silva told the country’s Senate Economic Legislation Committee on Friday, the Sydney Morning Herald Report.

The statement was issued shortly after Facebook and Google appeared in the Senate hearing. ask The country has a six-month grace period that allows it to trade directly with the news media before being bound by the code.

Google and Facebook Have been negotiating Since December 2019, the Australian government has been seeking to become the first country to force the two technology platforms that absorb most of the world’s digital advertising revenue to pay directly for the content of news publishers. This move may have a ripple effect across the world, including in the United States.

A few hours before Silva’s speech, Google agree Pay the cost of news publications in France to display content. But in Australia, the company argued that requiring platforms to pay for links would break a basic principle of the Internet-the ability of websites to link freely to each other.

“Just as there is no charge for including hyperlinks in emails, websites and search engines will not pay for links to third-party websites,” Google wrote in a statement. Blog post“It’s like asking the phone book to pay companies to include them-it’s totally meaningless.”

In response to Silva’s remarks, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to make concessions. “We don’t respond to threats,” he said Tell reporter In Brisbane. “Australia sets the rules for what we can do in Australia. This is done in our parliament. This is what our government does. This is how Australia works.”