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.
Mel Silva, managing director for Google’s Australian operations, 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 (7.7 million US dollars), 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.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
INEC Lists Five Challenges Ahead Of 2023 Elections
AS politicians step up horse-trading ahead of subsequent elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has listed five main areas of likely challenges…
Who Succeeds IGP Mohammed Adamu?
As the February retirement date of the incumbent Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu draws near, there are varying permutations on who steps in as the new police boss. SUNDAY ADEPOJU writes on the suspense over the…
Nigerian singer and songwriter, Simi, has said that she does not have any friends in…
Nollywood star, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, has taken a step away from glitz and glam to…
SOMETIMES, trauma doesn’t just leave bruises on the body, it leaves bruises on memory, trust,…
A couple of months ago, history walked on its two legs into my feeble embrace.…
“If the problem is in the name or nomenclature employed by Utomi, then, we may…
IN yorubaland, parents burying their children is a cultural abomination. There is even a prayer-line…
This website uses cookies.