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Google threatens to 'stop providing Search' in Australia if media code becomes law


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Google is considering switching off its search function for Australian users if a proposed media bargaining code becomes law.
 
The tech giant's Australian managing editor Mel Silva said it was prepared to take the drastic action over a proposed media bargaining code.
 
The legislation aims to force digital platforms to pay media companies for news content, and follows a 12-month review into Google and Facebook by the competition watchdog.
 
"If the Code becomes law, Google would have no real choice but to stop providing Search in Australia. That's a worst-case scenario and the last thing we want to have happen — especially when there is a way forward to a workable Code that allows us to support Australian journalism without breaking Search," Ms Silva told a Senate hearing.
 
Google is currently profiting off Australian news outlets without paying for it.
Google is currently profiting off Australian news outlets without paying for it. (AP)
 
"Now that would be a bad outcome for us, but also for the Australian people, media diversity, and the small businesses who use our products every day."
 
"It's not a threat. It's a reality."
 
One of the largest companies in the world, Google has an estimated value of more than a trillion dollars.
 
Facebook also appeared at the senate hearing, repeating its threat that having to pay for news could see the content blocked altogether for Australian users.
 
Simon Milner, Vice President Public Policy at APAC for Facebook, said while traditional news "enriches" the Facebook community, it provides "almost no commercial value".
 
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Facebook has repeated a threat to block local news content for Australian users. (AAP)
 
"Clearly there's a range of ways in which people find out about what's going on in the world and some of that is by what they consume on Facebook. And some of that will be from what we might think of as kind of mainstream news sources," Mr Milner said.
 
"We've estimated that less than 5 per cent of Facebook's newsfeed actually involves that kind of content."
 
News organisations in Australia have accused Google and Facebook of profiting off their content without paying anything for it.
 
The Senate economics committee is examining the Federal Government's proposed media bargaining code bill.
 
Representatives from Nine, the publisher of this website, News Corp, Guardian Australia and the AAP will also give evidence.
 
The inquiry will also hear from Free TV Australia, the ABC and SBS, and the ACCC.
 
Chris Janz, Chief Digital and Publishing Officer at Nine, compared Google and Facebook's net worth to being greater than that of the entire Australian stock market, and the nation's entire gross domestic product.
 
Mr Janz oversees the publishing of a broad range of local news, including this website alongside the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, Brisbane Times and more.
 
He referred to a recent "experiment" in which Google removed local news for some Australian users to test its impact.
 
"Google's ability to execute the so-called experiment demonstrates the truth of the core digital media ecosystem, you either play by their rules or not at all," Mr Janz said.
 
"For media organisations, this means having to accept your content appearing on Google's platforms, which provides Google with significant commercial returns without paying a single cent for the creation of that journalism."
 
Google said this was an 'experiment' ... 'to measure the impacts of news businesses and Google search on each other'.
 
"They effectively wiped local news off the face of the internet with one decision made out of California. They have power and they are not afraid to use it," Mr Janz added.
 
Google and Facebook executive will also give evidence at the hearing, where they will argue against the code. Google claims the proposed code will "break the way Google search works".
 
The Federal Government is undeterred by threats from Google that it may leave Australia if it is forced to pay for news content, Mr Morrison said.
 
At the Senate hearing today into the planned code for digital media platforms the tech giant hinted it may leave Australia if Federal Parliament passes the legislation.
 
"Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That's done in our parliament. It's done by our government. And that's how things work here in Australia. And people who want to work with that, in Australia, you're very welcome. But we don't respond to threats."
 
Australian media executives say the code is essential for the survival of independent journalism.
 
Federal Parliament is expected to vote on the bill early this year after the committee delivers its report on February 12.
 
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zanderthunder

I found it absurd for Aussie government to implement the controversial "media code", looks like one-sided monopolying.

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Plenty of other search engines out there, with a bit of tweaking duckduckgo has served me well for a while now. I think that the problem is that people don't know that they have  choices other than Google search and certainly have a choice, for the most part, of not being served constant adverts.

It is mostly forgotten by people who have the slightest knowledge of computers that the general public at large know almost nothing about how to tweak and what is available to them.

 

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