Google removes links to California news sites for some users

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Google began removing California news websites from some people's search results on Friday, a test threatened if the state legislature passes a law requiring the search giant to pay media companies for linking to their content.

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Google announced the move in a blog post on Friday, calling it a “short-term test to measure the impact of the legislation on our product experience for a small percentage of users.” The company also said it would halt new investments in the California news industry, including a partnership initiative with news organizations and a product licensing program.

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“By helping people find news, we're helping publishers of all sizes grow their audiences for free. (This bill) will end that model,” Jaffer Zaidi, Google's vice president of global news partnerships, wrote in a blog post.

The California legislature is considering a bill that would require tech giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to pay media companies a certain percentage of ad revenue for linking to their content. A three-judge panel will decide how much the companies will have to pay through an arbitration process.

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The bill aims to stem the rapid loss of journalistic jobs as legacy media companies struggle to make a profit in the digital age. More than 2,500 newspapers have closed in the US since 2005, according to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. According to Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Weeks, the bill's author, California has lost more than 100 news organizations in the past decade.

“This basic fairness bill is to ensure that these platforms pay for the content they modify,” Weeks said. “We are committed to continuing our dialogue with Google and all other stakeholders to ensure a bright future for California journalists and keep the lights of democracy burning.”

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The state Assembly passed the bill last year with bipartisan support, despite fierce opposition and lobbying efforts from major tech companies. The California Senate would have to pass it later this year to become law.

Supporters say the law will help level the playing field between news publishers and major digital platforms and provide a “lifeline” to local news organizations that rely heavily on Google to distribute their content in the digital age. While Google's search engine has become the hub of a digital advertising empire that generates more than $200 billion in annual revenue, news publishers have seen their ad revenues decline significantly over the past few decades.

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But opponents, including Google, Meta and some independent newsrooms, call the legislation a “communications tax” that would primarily benefit out-of-state newspaper chains and hedge funds and further undercut local news organizations. Google's vice president of news, Richard Gingras, also told state lawmakers at a hearing last December that Google has made significant contributions to supporting local journalism, noting the tech giant's financial grants and training of nearly 1,000 local publications by 2023. programs.

Google's search engine should be considered “the biggest newsstand on Earth,” Ginras said, helping users connect to news websites more than 24 billion times a month. Google search engine has about 90% market share.

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“This traffic, in turn, helps publishers earn money by serving ads or attracting new subscribers,” he said, adding that each click on a Google link costs the news website 5 to 7 cents.

Google's decision to temporarily remove links to news websites is not a new tactic the tech giants are using to push back on unnecessary legislation. When Canada and Australia passed similar laws to promote journalism, Meta — the company that owns Facebook and Instagram — responded by blocking content from Canadian publishers on its sites in Canada. The company made similar threats to the US Congress and California lawmakers last year. Google made the same threat in Canada. But in November, Google agreed to pay C$100 million (US$74 million) to the news industry.

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News publishers would suffer and more journalists could be fired if Google blocked search content entirely, but Google would take a financial hit without news content, analysts say.

“Google is doing itself a huge disservice if it decides to stop using newspaper content,” said Brandon Cressin, an antitrust attorney representing the News Media Alliance and other news publishers. “They would cut off their noses to spite themselves.”

A political dispute over Google's dominant search engine has curbed access to various news sources, amid legal challenges that could end in rulings that could damage the company's Internet empire.

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After presenting evidence supporting allegations that Google abused its power to stifle competition and innovation in the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter-century, US Justice Department lawyers will present their final arguments to a federal judge next month. decision on the case later this year.

After another antitrust trial that ended in December, a federal jury ruled that Google made its app store for smartphones running Android software an illegal monopoly, limiting consumer choice while enriching the company through unfairly high commissions on in-app purchases. A hearing on the changes Google must make following the ruling is also scheduled for next month.

California has sought to promote local journalism through a variety of initiatives, including a $25 million multi-year state-funded program in partnership with UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism to place 40 career journalists annually in local newsrooms. Lawmakers are also considering another proposal this year that would expand tax breaks for local news organizations.

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