Technology, Politics

January 22, 2021

Google threatens to disable search engine in Australia

Source: Pexels (PhotoMIX) 
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The Gist

The threat is in response to a proposed law by the Australian government to force tech giants to pay news publishers on their platforms. 

The List

  • Google's managing director for Australia told the Australian senate that they will cease providing services in the country if the controversial law is passed. 
  • Facebook has also fought back against the proposed law, but has instead opted to remove any news Australian content from its site if it is passed. 
  • News publishers argue that they bring value to Google and Facebook, and that they should be compensated accordingly.
  • Google and Facebook argue that the threshold for this compensation is too high, and effectively allows publishers to dictate how much they should be paid. 
  • Google recently came to an agreement with the French government to compensate French news publishers. 

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