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Amidst a brewing dispute related to paying for news content, leading tech giant Google recently initiated a small-scale experiment that temporarily eliminates California-based news sites from some users’ search results. The controversial move signals Google’s staunch resistance to proposed legislation that calls for technology behemoths to remunerate media companies for linking to their content.
Google publicized the decision through a blog post on Friday, labeling the move as a “short-term test… to measure the impact of the legislation.” Google is hitting pause on new investments into California’s news industry pending resolution of the legislative issue, highlighting a potential predicament for independent, local, and niche news outlets.
Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s Vice President for global news partnerships, mused on the implications of the proposed bill. The principle of news aggregation and content distribution, he argued, would be drastically disrupted if platforms were to be charged for linking to news content.
California’s proposed legislation, the crux of this bureaucratic tussle, is aimed at halting the bleed-out of journalism jobs. The digital revolution has dealt a crushing blow to traditional media companies struggling to monetize their content effectively, leading to a scant 2,500 newspapers surviving out of those operational in 2005 according to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, the bill’s author, expressed resolve to fight for journalistic equality. “This bill is about ensuring that platforms pay for the content they repurpose,” Wicks said.
Despite fierce pushback from tech behemoths, the bill enjoys bipartisan support. If it passes through the California Senate, it could pose a significant shake-up for the relationship between tech companies and news publishers.
Proponents view the legislation as a necessary lifeline for local news organizations, whose survival greatly depends on the reach of Google’s search engine.
But the heavyweights of tech, including Google and Meta, disparage the proposition as a “link tax” that unduly favors large, out-of-state newspaper chains at the expense of local news organizations.
“Google is the largest newsstand on Earth,” says Richard Gingras, Google’s VP of News, emphasizing the pivotal role that Google’s search engine plays in connecting users to news content, driving ad revenues and helping news websites monetize their traffic.
In the bigger picture, Google’s temporary test follows a precedent set in countries such as Canada and Australia where similar legislation was enacted. In contrast to Google’s approach, Meta has taken a more drastic step, blocking content from Canadian publishers in Canada outright.
Despite the potential damage to local news, legal expert Brandon Kressin argues that Google would also significantly hurt its own interests if it chose to discontinue sharing news content.
Experts await eagerly the outcomes of the “test”, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the news industry. Meanwhile, antitrust allegations plaguing tech giants make this saga even more riveting.
Information Box:
Bill Name: California Journalism Preservation Act
Purpose: Tech giants pay media companies for linking news content
Impact if passed: Local news companies gain financial support, bigger digital platforms face additional costs
Previous similar legislation: Australia, Canada
Google’s response: Temporarily blocking California news sites for select users
Estimated value of each click from Google to news sites: 5 to 7 cents
References:
1: ABC NEWS. (2024, April 13). Faced with possibly paying for news, Google removes links to California news sites for some users.
2: NPR. (2024, April 12). Google blocks California news in response to bill that would force tech giant to pay.
We reached out to Google but have not received a response yet.