Google Starting to block access to California news outlets for some users in the state, according to one company announcement Friday from the tech giants. This is all because Google is uneasy about proposed legislation that would force the company to pay some publishers for their content, a so-called “link tax.”
is called California Press Protection Act (CJPA), the bill has passed California’s lower house, the Assembly, but still needs consideration by the state Senate and signature by Gov. Gavin Newsom before it can become law. Newsom has yet to weigh in on the legislation.
“If passed, the CJPA could result in significant changes to the services we provide to Californians and the traffic we deliver to California publishers,” Google said. on Friday. “By helping people find news stories, we can help publishers of all sizes grow their audiences for free.”
While Google does help people find news stories, the problem is that most ad dollars go to big tech platforms like Google and Facebook, rather than to the publishers who create the news content. That’s what the bill seeks to solve by forcing Google to pay publishers.
Google issued similar threats after countries such as Australia, Indiaand Canada Last few years. In nearly every case, Google proposed a nationwide shutdown of Google services like Search, but ultimately complied with the laws of each jurisdiction without causing much disruption.
Meta-owned Facebook has faced similar hurdles in other countries that want the company to pay for aggregating local news content, but despite Google’s acquiescence, Facebook has chosen to move in an entirely new direction.This direction includes abandoning the news service entirely while insisting that Facebook users don’t actually do it Care about news.
Google on Friday acknowledged the battles it has waged in other countries but did not mention the millions of dollars it has paid publishers.
As we have shared with other countries considering similar proposals, the uncapped financial exposure created by the CJPA will not work. If enacted, the CJPA in its current form will create business uncertainty that is unacceptable to any company. In order to prepare for the possible impact of the CJPA, we have begun a short-term test with a small group of California users. The testing process includes removing links to California news sites (that may be covered by the CJPA) to measure the impact of this legislation on our product experience. We are also pausing further investments in the California news ecosystem, including new partnerships through the Google News Showcase, our product and licensing programs for news organizations, and the planned Google News program expanded.
Google did not respond to a question emailed Friday about how many users in California are currently participating in a “test process” to remove links to California news sites. Given the borderless nature of the Internet, it’s unclear which sites would qualify as California news sites.
Google argued that California’s proposed legislation would only benefit large publishers, but some accused it of being a red herring.as a commentator california affairs Recently I wrote in a comment column:
Critics argue that the CJPA will primarily benefit large media organizations, but the fact that large news organizations benefit is not necessarily a bad thing: they employ thousands of people, create jobs, conduct expensive investigations and lobby on behalf of journalism. They also generate and receive the most traffic from technology platforms.
Clearly, there are many different factors at play here, and reasonable people may disagree about the role that government should play in keeping the news business model sustainable. But there is no doubt that companies like Google have a monopoly on the news that people can see around the world.
After all, the first thing companies like Google and Facebook threaten when faced with legislation to pay publishers is to shut off the spigots that provide news traffic to anyone in those countries. It’s hard to argue that a free market solution can solve the problem if only a few companies have the ability to do so.