(Bloomberg) – Alphabet Inc.’s Google has temporarily removed links to California news sites to limit the impact of a bill that would force unspecified users in the state to pay for content. investigate.
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Jafar Zaidi, Google’s vice president of global news partnerships, said in a blog post on Friday that the company is looking into how the proposed legislation would affect its products by “a small number of users in California.” A short-term test will be conducted on the following subjects. A Google spokesperson declined to say how long the test would last, how many users would be affected or which news organizations would be targeted.
The bill, known as the California Journalism Protection Act, “would create a level of business uncertainty that is unacceptable to any company,” Zaidi said. “To avoid an outcome in which all political parties lose and California’s news industry deteriorates further, we urge lawmakers to take a different approach.”
Zaidi also said the company is suspending its plans to invest in news in the state “until we have clarity on California’s regulatory environment.”
Governments around the world are taking steps aimed at forcing tech giants to pay for news. Last year, Alphabet announced it would remove links to news from Canadian publishers on Google after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government passed a law requiring digital platforms to compensate local news organizations. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms has opted to scale back its news capabilities in Canada, as well as in the United States and Australia.
California Rep. Buffy Wicks, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement that she will continue to engage in dialogue with Google.
“This is a fundamental fairness bill that aims to ensure that platforms pay for the content they reuse,” she said. “We are committed to continuing negotiations with Google and all other stakeholders to ensure a brighter future for California journalists and ensure the light of our democracy remains lit. Masu.”
–With assistance from Eliyahu Kamisher.
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