Google on Friday threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia if officials there passed a law requiring news publishers to pay for its content.
The Silicon Valley titan stepped up his aggressive fight against the proposal, saying the move would “break Google’s way of working” because the company would have to pay to display links to news articles.
“This code creates an irrational and unmanageable financial and operational risk to our business,” Mel Silva, managing director of Google Australia, said in an open letter, echoing comments he made before a Senate committee. Australian.
“If the code became law in its current form, we would have no choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.”
The controversial proposal would allow news companies to negotiate Google and Facebook payments for the use of their content that appears in search results or news channels. An arbitrator would decide the price if the parties do not reach an agreement.
Google had previously said the measure would put its free services (including its search engine and YouTube) at “risk” in Australia if it became law. Google now says YouTube would not be affected by the proposal in its current form.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison fired on Google’s threat to block search access, saying the country sets rules for “things you can do in Australia”.
“People who want to work with this in Australia are very welcome. But we don’t respond to threats, ”Morrison said.
Google’s offensive came after U.S. trade representatives Daniel Bahar and Karl Ehlers called on Australia to drop the proposed law, saying it would be “clearly to the detriment of two US companies”.
The proposal has broad political support and is backed by publishers such as News Corp., which owns The Post and publishes eight of Australia’s top ten newspapers.
With publishing cables