Google It has reportedly begun blocking access to California news outlets for some users in the state. announcement from the tech giant on Friday. And it’s all because Google is angry about a bill it calls a “link tax” that would force some publishers to pay for their content.
is known as California Journalism Protection Act The bill passed the California House of Representatives, also known as the California House of Representatives, but needs a vote in the state Senate and signature from Gov. Gavin Newsom to become law, according to (CJPA). Newsom has not yet commented on the bill.
“If passed, the CJPA could significantly change the services we can provide to Californians and the traffic we can deliver to California publishers,” Google said. on friday. “By helping people find news stories, we help publishers of all sizes grow their audiences for free.”
While it’s true that Google helps people find news stories, the problem is that much of the ad spend goes to Big Tech platforms like Google and Facebook, rather than to the publishers who create the news content. is. This bill goes some way to fixing that by forcing Google to pay publishers.
Google made similar threats after similar proposals were made in the following countries: Australia, Indiaand Canada in recent years. In nearly every case, Google has proposed shutting down Google services such as search across countries, but ultimately followed each jurisdiction’s laws without major disruption.
Meta’s Facebook faces similar hurdles in other countries trying to get companies to pay for aggregating local news content, but while Google acquiesces, Facebook steers in an entirely new direction. I chose that. That direction includes eliminating the news service entirely, while Facebook users claim they haven’t actually done so. care about the news.
Google on Friday acknowledged the battles it has waged in other countries, without mentioning that it has paid out millions of dollars to publishers.
As we have shared when other countries considered similar proposals, the uncapped financial exposure created by the CJPA is not viable. If enacted, the CJPA in its current form would create a level of business uncertainty that is unacceptable to any company. To prepare for CJPA impact, we are beginning a short-term test with a small number of users in California. The testing process includes removing links to California news websites that may be subject to CJPA to measure the law’s impact on the product experience. Further investments in the California news ecosystem, including new partnerships through Google News Showcase, media product and licensing programs, and plans to expand the Google News initiative, are also paused pending clarity on California’s regulatory environment. To do.
Google did not respond to emailed questions Friday about exactly how many users in California are currently participating in this “testing process” to remove links to California news sites. It’s also not clear what qualifies as a California news site, given the borderless nature of the Internet.
Google claims that the proposed bill in California would only benefit large publishers, but some say that’s dangerous.as a commentator on Karmatters I recently wrote this in the comments section.
Critics argue that CJPA will primarily benefit major media outlets, but the fact that major news organizations benefit is not necessarily a bad thing. They employ thousands of people, create jobs, conduct expensive research, and lobby on behalf of journalism. It also generates and receives the most traffic from technology platforms.
Clearly, there are many factors at play here, and reasonable people can disagree about the role that government should play in keeping journalism’s business model sustainable. But there’s no question that companies like Google hold monopoly power over the news that people around the world can see.
After all, the first thing companies like Google and Facebook threatened to do when faced with pay-to-publisher laws was to turn off the faucet of news traffic to everyone in those countries. And it’s hard to argue that free market solutions can solve the problem, even if only a handful of companies have the power to do it.
