Google, ready to turn off its search engine in Australia

Google announced today it would stop its search engine in Australia and leave the country. The announcement came at a Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing in Canberra.

The search engine owner blames draft legislation

Mel Silva, Australia Managing Director for Google, mentioned that the draft legislation “remains unworkable,” during a Senate hearing.
She said that if the Code were to become law, there will come the final decision. “It would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” she mentioned.

Silva added that the decision to make the search engine unavailable would have a bad not just for the company. It would also also be bad “for the Australian people, media diversity and small businesses” who use Google Search.”

The main problem? It “would require payments simply for links and snippets just to news results in Search”. And Silva explained that the business model “has been built on the ability to link freely between websites.

The new legislation would allow media institutions to negotiate directly with both Google and Facebook. And the project appeared as media companies argued that media companies should pay them to use their content.

This happens as both Facebook and Google make billions of dollars each ear by selling advertising space on their platforms. Still, their platforms survive thanks to the media companies, which provide the news.

Facebook adopts the same position

Facebook’s representative, Simon Milner, said, during the same hearing, that the platform may also block news content for Australia.

Still, he mentioned his hope to “make the law workable”. He emphasized that the law already had effects on investment decisions. He referred to a news product that Facebook launched in the UK, instead of Australia.

Also, Milner cited Tim Berners–Lee, the inventor of the web, saying that “the precedent set by this law could ‘make the web unworkable.”

Despite its tough position, Google announced on Thursday it would pay news publications in France to use their content online. The agreement might be soon replicated in other European countries, according to a European law.

The search engine owner blames draft legislation

Mel Silva, Australia Managing Director for Google, mentioned that the draft legislation “remains unworkable,” during a Senate hearing.
She said that if the Code were to become law, there will come the final decision. “It would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” she mentioned.

Silva added that the decision to make the search engine unavailable would have a bad not just for the company. It would also also be bad “for the Australian people, media diversity and small businesses” who use Google Search.”

The main problem? It “would require payments simply for links and snippets just to news results in Search”. And Silva explained that the business model “has been built on the ability to link freely between websites.

The new legislation would allow media institutions to negotiate directly with both Google and Facebook. And the project appeared as media companies argued that media companies should pay them to use their content.

This happens as both Facebook and Google make billions of dollars each ear by selling advertising space on their platforms. Still, their platforms survive thanks to the media companies, which provide the news.

Facebook adopts the same position

Facebook’s representative, Simon Milner, said, during the same hearing, that the platform may also block news content for Australia.

Still, he mentioned his hope to “make the law workable”. He emphasized that the law already had effects on investment decisions. He referred to a news product that Facebook launched in the UK, instead of Australia.

Also, Milner cited Tim Berners–Lee, the inventor of the web, saying that “the precedent set by this law could ‘make the web unworkable.”

Despite its tough position, Google announced on Thursday it would pay news publications in France to use their content online. The agreement might be soon replicated in other European countries, according to a European law.