SYDNEY, Jan 22, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Google threatened Friday to block
Australian users from accessing its search service unless the government
changed proposed legislation to make the internet giant pay news outlets for
their content.
Google Australia Managing Director Mel Silva told a senate committee in
Canberra that if the current draft media laws went ahead unchanged it would
be “the worst-case scenario” and force the firm to block Australians.
“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,” Silva said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose conservative government has heeded
demands by the country’s biggest news organisations to crack down on the US
tech firms, responded sharply to the threat.
“Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done
in our parliament,” Morrison said.
“People who want to work with that in Australia, you’re very welcome, but
we don’t respond to threats.”
The legislation was introduced last year to force Google and Facebook to
pay local media organisations to host news content or face millions of
dollars in fines, in one of the most aggressive moves globally to check the
power of the two US digital giants.
Under the laws, the firms will be required to compensate Australian media
outlets, ranging from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to public broadcasters ABC
and SBS.
The government has decided to exempt other popular platforms such as
YouTube and Instagram from the rules.
Silva insisted that Google wanted to support news companies and instead
suggested amendments to the media law, due to come into effect later this
year.
“There is a clear pathway to a fair and workable code, with only slight
amendments,” Silva said.
– ‘Unworkable’ –
The company earlier suggested it could block content from Australian news
outlets from appearing in its searches in response to the law, and began
experimenting with the move earlier this month with a small number of users.
But Friday was the first time the company said it was prepared to block
Australians from accessing its search.
Amendments Google demanded to the draft law included dropping a proposed
mandatory arbitration process to determine compensation for news businesses,
which was earlier labelled “fundamentally imbalanced” by the US government.
Facebook similarly labelled the code “unworkable” in its current form and
said it would cause the social media platform to stop publishing Australian
news.
“The great majority of people who are using Facebook would continue to be
able to do so, but we would no longer be able to provide news,” APAC Public
Policy Vice President at Facebook Simon Milner told the hearing.
Australia initially proposed a voluntary code of conduct but toughened its
stance after deciding the “unequal bargaining position” between traditional
news media businesses and digital platforms would prevent fair deals being
struck.
The initiative has been closely watched around the globe, as news media
worldwide have suffered in an increasingly digital economy where big tech
firms overwhelmingly capture advertising revenue.
An Australian review that led to the proposed changes found that for every
$100 spent on online advertising, Google captures $53 while Facebook takes
$28 and the rest is shared out among others.