Google revives plan to launch its news website in Australia amid political row

Amid a political battle, Google is reviving its plans to launch its own news website in Australia within weeks, according to Sydney Herald. Alphabet Inc-owned website has planned to launch ‘News Showcase’ as early as February in an attempt to prove to the federal government that it is a better way of paying media companies than newly proposed law, which would force the digital platforms to strike an agreement with the news media companies to pay for the content. The report of the new launch comes a week after Google said that it would cut off the search to Australian users as a “worst-case scenario” if the government legislated a proposed news media bargaining code in its current form. 

Google had announced plans to launch ‘News Showcase’ in Australia last June and it had signed deals with seven small local outlets, including ‘The Conversation’, for content. The search engine had, however, delayed the launch citing regulatory condition when Australia’s competition regulator published a draft copy of the proposed media bragging code. Now, the decision to push ahead with the launch is considered an apparent show of Google’s willingness to run its own content deals, negating the need for the government-mandated legislation. 

According to reports, Google has committed $1 billion globally to the ‘News Showcase’ initiative and has struck deals with more than 400 publishers. The search engine is being paid 25 per cent of the amount the Australian media companies would be paid following a launch in “good faith”. The product has also piqued the interest of smaller outlets because they are more reliant on Google and Facebook for their audiences. 

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Facebook, Google tackle new law 

Meanwhile, last week, Google threatened to remove its search engine from Australia if the government goes ahead with its plans to make all the tech giants pay for the news content. Saying that it is the ‘last thing’ that Google wants to happen especially when ‘there’s another way’, Google’s Australian managing director, Mel Silva said that the proposed news code was untenable and would set a “dangerous precedent” for paying for the links. It is worth noting that Facebook has already threatened to remove news from its feed for all Australians if a code forcing the companies to negotiate payments to news media moves forward.

The ultimatum that Google delivered to the Australian government on January 22, if implied would mean that the 19 million citizens in the country who use the search engine every month would not be able to search. Further, the 17 million Australians who log into Facebook every month would also be unable to see any post with news articles. Both Facebook and Google are tackling against the legislation which is before the Australian parliament and would force the digital platforms to strike an agreement with the news media companies to pay for the content. It is with an arbiter to ultimately pay the amount of no agreement is reached. 

(Image: AP)

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