News Corp announces a multi-year, global partnership with Google to provide content from its news sites “in return for significant payments by Google”
In the face of proposed regulation in Australia that would require tech giants … Jared Newman / Fast Company : Facebook has banned Australian news, but there's a workaround Financial Times : Big Tech versus journalism: publishers watch Australia fight with bated breath Stephen Scheeler / Sydney Morning Herald : As a former Facebook chief, here's my verdict: It's a shameless demonstration of corporate might Robert Clark / Light Reading : Facebook cuts off Australia news over new rules Jack Snape / ABC : Facebook can't be trusted for reliable news, says government, as Mark Zuckerberg speaks to the Treasurer Bloomberg : Facebook Blocks News in Australia in Warning for the World Wall Street Journal : Google to Pay News Corp for Access to Its Publications' Content Kate Kaye / Digiday : 'I'm afraid of repercussions': Publishing industry members question Google's motives in paying off News Corp Soumyarendra Barik / MediaNama : In Australia, Facebook and Google choose diverging paths over paying news publishers Tweets: Casey Newton / @caseynewton : Very good on the hypocrisy of Australian politicians from @benthompson https://stratechery.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : What angers me most is that *journalism* organizations had *no* shame and *no* transparency about their conflict of interest, cashing in their political capital to buy political favor and conspiracy to blackmail the tech companies. Journalism *never* reported its conflict. Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : Google just announced a deal with News Corp. I hate this. It means that media blackmail works. It sets a terrible precedent for the net. It gives Google yet more power over news. It is a win for the devil, Murdoch. I really hate that. Paladaddy / @defspaladin : This is so dangerous, not only does this incite retaliation but it also invites other big behemoth companies to do the same leaving Australia in a dark spot for news, international and national. https://twitter.com/... Rasmus Kleis Nielsen / @rasmus_kleis : That shuffling sound you hear? Maybe it is publishers around 🌍 hiring lobbyists:"Google's rush to pay up in Australia shows how regulation in a relatively small country — or just the threat of it — can sharply alter the behavior of a global tech behemoth" https://www.nytimes.com/... Brian Fung / @b_fung : Bet Google will hold this up as evidence Australia doesn't need a new law forcing it to share revenues with publishers. https://newscorp.com/... Southpaw / @nycsouthpaw : Let's unionize and try this with @jack https://twitter.com/... Julia Reda / @senficon : Australia (competition approach, not #copyright), France (competition & copyright) & Germany (neither copyright nor competition) all had the same outcome for Google & big publishers. Great, can we stop wrecking the Internet for everyone else, now? https://newscorp.com/... #linktax Chris Conlon / @conlon_chris : No doubt Rupert Murdoch can thank his friends in the Australian government for all of their help on this one. https://twitter.com/... Peter A. Shulman / @pashulman : Imagine if Google would shared ad revenue and infrastructure with local, public interest non-profit news instead of a corrosive right wing global behemoth. https://twitter.com/... Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : In the end, Google & Facebook have a big bucket of baksheesh that will go to old proprietors and their shareholders (not journalists; don't fool yourselves), keeping them around a little longer and keeping upstart competitors out of the market. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
News Corp had already argued that platforms should compensate trusted publishers through carriage-fee-like arrangements. The Google agreement turns that position into a global commercial model as Australian and French regulators were considering rules requiring platforms to pay publishers for news content.
The deal also lands amid a sharp strategic divide: Google is making payments while Facebook's decision to block Australian news showed that a platform could instead withhold distribution. That difference matters because payment terms and platform access are being negotiated together.
First-order effects
- News Corp gains a multi-year payment relationship and a formal route for supplying content to Google’s news products.
- Google secures News Corp content through a global agreement, rather than leaving its relationship with a major publisher solely to regulatory outcomes.
Second-order effects
- Publishers and regulators in markets watching Australia and France gain a concrete deal structure to cite when pressing Google and other platforms for compensation.
- Facebook faces a clearer contrast with Google: its news-blocking response preserves platform control, while Google’s agreement makes paid publisher partnerships a more visible alternative.
Third-order effects
- News distribution is moving toward negotiated platform–publisher contracts, with the largest publishers best positioned to convert regulatory pressure into global terms.
- The split between Google’s payment agreements and Facebook’s willingness to remove news access suggests that platform gatekeeper power will shape both the price of news and whether it is carried at all.
The trend: Regulatory pressure over news compensation is pushing platforms toward divergent strategies: paid licensing deals for some, and reduced news distribution for others.