Will Google stop operating in Australia?
This is not a contrived threat – Google really could stop working for all users who are in Australia. Currently, Google only displays 1% of news content. Already, it is estimated that Australian news portals are losing about 200,000 users a day, which significantly affects their advertising profits.
Some of Australia’s largest media companies have cut salaries or are simply starting to lay off employees. With the coronavirus pandemic, this is particularly acute for the Australian news media market.
How did this situation come about?
Why is Google threatening to pull out of Australia?
Recently, the newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald noted that most of its content has disappeared from Google’s search engine. In response, a spokesperson for the U.S. giant announced that an experiment is currently being conducted in Australia resulting in only 1% of content appearing in the news section. The experiment is expected to last until February. However, Australian newspaper and news portal owners, as well as politicians, are convinced that the move is not an experiment, but an attempt to force changes in the law.
Well, Australia is trying to introduce an unprecedented law that forces Google and Facebook to pay royalties for sharing links on Google news that direct to news portals. In addition, the new law requires notification of “intentional algorithm changes” that could affect news media operations.
Why Google’s algorithm changes can change everything 180 degrees, we wrote here: Google algorithm update – December 2020
Google’s managing director in Australia announced outright that if such a law takes effect, Google would have no choice but to withdraw its search services from the country. Why?
It’s not just about paying royalties.
The main argument, put forward by Google, against the new law is the potential fear that organic results will begin to depend on money. In addition, the giant points out that it is unfair to slap such a law on only one search engine (and Facebook). This would give an incredible advantage to other search engines such as Bing or Yahoo, which are significantly less popular than Google.
It seems that Google is more concerned about losing control over this than paying news publishers royalties for giving them access to the latest news. Additionally, Google is, and always has been, secretive about disclosing information about algorithm changes.
It is also worth noting that the new Australian law would set a dangerous precedent for Google. If it had passed, it is likely that other countries would have decided to introduce similar regulations.
How will the case develop?
It seems that the giant is not only concerned about money, but more about other aspects that would be involved in the introduction of such a law. It can be expected that this would be the beginning of Google’s loss of monopoly and power on the Internet.
Sources:
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-facebook-australian-media/363044/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-reportedly-blocking-australian-news-from-search/392710/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/australia-no-more-google-search/393303/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-google-paying-french-publishers-fighting-australia/393565/
