Google will block Australia if content fees law approved
Google has threatened to block Australian users from accessing its search service; unless the government changes 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 on Friday; 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 organizations to crack down on the US technology firms, responded angrily 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.”
Google’s testimony “is part of a pattern of threatening behavior that is chilling for anyone who values our democracy,” said Peter Lewis, the director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology.
The legislation was introduced last year to force Google and Facebook to pay local media organizations for their 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.
YouTube and Instagram exempted
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.
