In an Australian Senate hearing, a Google executive said that a law forcing Google to pay news outlets for links could prompt it to stop offering Search

As Google and Facebook face Senate committee, poll finds three in five Australians agree social media companies should prioritise news in feeds

The Guardian 2021-01-22 Josh Taylor

Context & Ripple Effects

Google had already opposed Australia's payment plan, characterizing search results as a form of publisher promotion rather than paid content use. By December, the proposed code had begun to recognize the value of platform-referred traffic to publishers; the hearing turns that valuation dispute into a threat to a core Google service.

The confrontation also spans Facebook and news distribution in feeds, while the related coverage records that Australia ultimately passed a bargaining code covering major digital platforms. That makes Google's warning consequential beyond a single hearing: it defines the leverage each side is prepared to use in negotiations.

First-order effects

Google places the availability of Search in Australia alongside the cost of paying news outlets, raising the stakes for the Senate and local publishers that depend on search referrals.
Australian publishers face a sharper trade-off: compensation for news content versus the risk that Google withdraws a major route by which readers reach their sites.

Second-order effects

Facebook is drawn into the same bargaining framework, with pressure on its news-feed treatment reinforced by the poll showing Australian support for prioritizing news.
The code's recognition of referral traffic's monetary value gives publishers a negotiating basis that challenges Google's earlier argument that search traffic itself is the relevant benefit.

Third-order effects

The episode establishes platform service access as a bargaining lever in disputes over paying for news, rather than treating compensation as a standalone publishing-policy question.
As later coverage argues that Google's payments may invite similar demands beyond Australia, news bargaining codes can become a template for publishers and governments seeking to extract value from dominant distribution platforms.

The trend: News publishers and regulators are pressing major platforms to convert the value of digital distribution into direct compensation, while platforms test how far service-withdrawal threats can limit that model.

Discussion

@keithmillsd7 Keith Mills on x
While most people here were distracted by Twitter vs Trump, this is a far more important case from a global perspective. Australian media is fighting Google and Google isn't rolling over. https://www.smh.com.au/...
@mnot Mark Nottingham on x
What a good opportunity for people to discover that search engines are highly substitutable. https://www.bbc.co.uk/...
@senator_patrick Rex Patrick on x
Sorry @Google, but we will decide which search engines come to this country and the circumstances in which they come. #auspol https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@normanswan Norman Swan on x
Could be an amazing opportunity for Australian tech entrepreneurs. Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law https://www.smh.com.au/...
@katecrawford Kate Crawford on x
GOOGLE: if you pass a law that makes us pay media companies for journalism, we'll shut down search in Australia. PRIME MINISTER: “But we don't respond to threats” GOOGLE: “It's not a threat. It's a reality.” Last two are *checks notes* actual quotes. https://www.smh.com.au/...
@ritapanahi Rita Panahi on x
Tech giant with a virtual monopoly having an almighty tantrum cause it doesn't want to pay for content. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@paulwallbank Paul Wallbank on x
Gee, didn't we laugh when Telstra launched its Sensis search engine and Sol Trujillo said ‘Google Schmoogle’ back in 2005. If only we'd listened. :D https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@naamanzhou Naaman Zhou on x
Funny that the biggest and most credible threat of China-style censorship in Australia is coming from a US private company https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@frontierindica Frontier Indica on x
Even Australia, a country with the population of Haryana, has the courage to stand up to Big Tech. https://twitter.com/...
@alecstapp Alec Stapp on x
It's almost as if displaying snippets of news articles in search results is more valuable for publishers (free traffic) than it is for Google (news keywords monetize poorly). https://twitter.com/...
@petercronau Peter Cronau on x
Google is not your friend. This is why Google needed to be broken up, regulated, taxed, audited, monitored. Anyway time to get a new search engine. The best IMO is DuckDuckGo. But also Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, https://ask.com/, Ecosia, https://aol.com/, etc https://twitter.com…
@profpcdoherty Prof. Peter Doherty on x
That would be a massive problem, and be a massive negative on many, including economic, fronts. We would be shooting ourselves in the foot. Google threatens to shut down search in Australia if digital news code goes ahead https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
Australia to Google and Facebook: “break how the entire Internet works or get out!” Google and Facebook: well then we'd have to get out. Australia: “stop threatening us!” https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@rustybrick Barry Schwartz on x
Here we go again. https://twitter.com/...
@sreemoytalukdar Sreemoy Talukdar on x
In the entire world, only one nation remains immune to this blatant blackmailing from Big Tech. What's more, when the rest of world is struggling to rein in Big Tech bosses, that nation is cutting them down to size. This is not to endorse, just observe. https://www.theguardian.co…
@libertarianblue Allum Bokhari on x
This would be a huge win for Australia https://twitter.com/...
@joshbbornstein Josh Bornstein on x
They will use the same threats to avoid paying tax in Australia https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@christineemba Christine Emba on x
Australia should call their bluff. https://twitter.com/...
@mordyoberstein Mordy Oberstein on x
I'm so confused. Google, in France, will pay for news content: https://techcrunch.com/... But in Australia, no. https://www.reuters.com/... @geochingu?!
@vijayshekhar Vijay Shekhar Sharma on x
One day, Google will treat Indian publishers equal to these French publisher and pay for content it uses to generate traffic. One day, just because we are Indian, we will not be treated unfairly by big tech companies. https://techcrunch.com/...
@adetolaov Tola on x
MAJOR: Google has struck major digital copyright deal to pay French publishers for news content. Under the News Showcase, newspapers would be remunerated based on contributions to political & general information, daily volume & monthly internet audience. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@mariamamini Mariam Amini on x
Google agrees to pay French publishers for news “Sébastien Missoffe, CEO of #Google France, said the deal 'confirms Google's commitment to compensate publishers appropriately under French law, and opens up new opportunities for our publisher partners.' https://www.cnbc.com/...
@glenngabe Glenn Gabe on x
Google has reached an agreement w/an association of French publishers over how it will be pay for reuse of content snippets “It added that payments will go direct to publishers and terms will not be disclosed — noting they are strictly confidential.” https://techcrunch.com/... ht…
@mathewi Mathew Ingram on x
Worth noting that Google thinks it can still use short snippets in search for free, but it looks like French publishers disagree, so this fight is probably not over. This is a good piece by @riptari https://twitter.com/...
@zachdcarter Zach Carter on x
one way to regulate the tech giants is to make them pay publishers https://twitter.com/...
@stephenjadler Stephen J. Adler on x
From Google: “Today we're announcing a new global deal with Reuters for News Showcase. Their in-depth coverage from 2,500 journalists around the world is indispensable and another example of the quality news content News Showcase is bringing to users."https://blog.google/...
@googlenews @googlenews on x
Since we announced Google News Showcase last year, we've signed agreements with nearly 450 publications across a dozen countries. Today, we're announcing a new global deal with @Reuters. 1/ https://blog.google/...
@googlenews @googlenews on x
2021 will be a year of major investment in News Showcase to create a great news experience for users around the globe. We are committed to doing this alongside news publishers as we play our part in developing a better future for quality journalism. 5/ https://blog.google/...
@rasmus_kleis Rasmus Kleis Nielsen on x
Reuters latest publisher to sign deal for News Showcase. Google says nearly 450 publications across a dozen countries have signed up. (For comparison, last number of sources aggregated in Google News I've seen is 80,000. Search no doubt indexes many more) https://blog.google/...
@googlenews @googlenews on x
News Showcase publications that are live in Brazil and Germany have already created tens of thousands of panels which have been seen by millions of users across Google News and Discover on Android and iOS. 3/ https://blog.google/... https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
this statement from Google sends up major alarm bells. Note how they're effectively bundling payments for newly established neighboring rights into their “News Showcase” payoffs and then throwing out the $1B number from G news fund to shock and awe press. https://techcrunch.com/.…

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