Source: AFP
Google said Friday it is testing removing links to California news sites for some users in the western US state, as lawmakers consider making the online search giant pay to connect people with news.
The Silicon Valley tech company is preparing for the possible passage of California’s Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) that would create a “link tax” for users in the state to link to news articles, Google Vice President of Global News Partnerships Jaffer Zaidi said. on a blog. Position.
The CJPA was passed by the California Assembly in June of last year and is currently being considered by the state senate.
“As we have shared when other countries have considered similar proposals, the uncapped financial exposure created by the CJPA would be unworkable,” Zaidi argued.
“If enacted, the CJPA in its current form would create a level of business uncertainty that no company could accept.”
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Google and Meta, which owns Facebook, have pushed back efforts in other jurisdictions to require them to compensate news outlets for stories posted on their platforms.
Facebook briefly blocked news articles on its site in Australia in 2021 after a similar law was passed, before the company and Google agreed to make deals to pay news publishers.
In France, an agreement was reached in 2022 between Google, publishers and news agencies to allow news content to be displayed on its platform.
And in November, after months of negotiations, Canada and Google signed a deal under which the world’s number one online advertising company will pay Canadian media companies $100 million a year in compensation for lost ad revenue.
Proponents of such laws argue that tech titans lure users with news and gobble up online advertising dollars that would otherwise go to struggling newsrooms.
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Google’s test includes removing links to news sites that may be covered by the proposed law to measure the impact on the platform, according to Zaidi.
Only two percent of Google search queries are news-related as people turn to getting news from short-form videos, newsletters, podcasts and social media, according to Zaidi.
Google is also halting investments in California’s news “ecosystem” until it becomes clear what regulators have planned, Zaidi added.
“A healthy news industry in California will require support from both California government and a broad base of private companies,” Zaidi said.
Source: AFP