General
Google threatens to pull search engine from Australia
Google on Friday threatened to pull its search engine from Australia over a proposed media code that would require the tech firm to pay for news content.
Managing Director for Google’s Australian operations, Mel Silva, told a Senate enquiry the code was unworkable and the company was unable to calculate the financial risk, news agency AAP reported.
Leaving the Australian market is the “only rational rational choice if this law were to pass,” she said.
The news media bargaining code bill was introduced into Australia’s parliament in December.
If passed, it will force tech companies to pay news outlets for their content or face fines of up to 10 million Australian dollars ($7.7m), according to AAP.
The code would initially apply to Facebook NewsFeed and Google Search.
Also on Friday, Google published a video and letter addressing Australian users in a campaign against the news code.
Silva compared paying news outlets for displaying links to their content to recommending coffee shops to a friend and then being billed by the coffee shops for mentioning them.
“When you put a price on linking to certain information, you break the way that search engines work and you no longer have a free and open web,” Silva said.
The company wants to pay publishers through its Google News Showcase programme rather than for links.
Nearly 200 publications have signed deals with the programme, Google said.
-
News23 hours ago
Fraud: A’Ibom cybercrime training center proprietor jailed
-
News17 hours ago
FCCPC shuts Abuja Chinese store over Nigerian shoppers’ ban
-
News18 hours ago
Adeleke dismisses flier welcoming Remi Tinubu by second wife as fake
-
News18 hours ago
FCCPC seals Abuja Chinese supermarket discriminating against Nigerians
-
Politics18 hours ago
INEC unveils final list of candidates for Edo gov election
-
Entertainment14 hours ago
Naira abuse: Bobrisky appeals conviction, seeks option of fine
-
News6 hours ago
Justin Bieber mourns close friend, rapper Chris King shot dead
-
Metro14 hours ago
Army dismisses two soldiers for ‘stealing’ Dangote refinery cables