Faced with the possibility of paying for news, Google removes links to California news sites for some users

SACRAMENTO, California – Google on Friday began removing California news sites from some people’s search results, a test that acted as a threat if the state Legislature passed a law requiring the search giant to pay media companies for links to its content.

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

“By helping people find news, we help publishers of all sizes grow their audiences at no cost to them. (This bill) would end that model,” wrote Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s vice president for global news partnerships, on the blog.

The California Legislature is considering a bill that would require tech giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to pay a certain percentage of advertising revenue to media companies for links to their content. How much companies would have to pay would be decided by a panel of three judges through an arbitration process.

The bill aims to stop the loss of journalism jobs, which have been rapidly disappearing as traditional media companies struggle to profit in the digital age. More than 2,500 newspapers have closed in the U.S. since 2005, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. California has lost more than 100 news organizations in the last decade, according to Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who authored the bill.

“This is a bill about basic fairness – it’s about making sure platforms pay for the content they repurpose,” Wicks said. “We are committed to continuing negotiations with Google and all other interested parties to secure a better future for California journalists and ensure that the lights of democracy stay on.”

The state Assembly passed the bill last year with bipartisan support, despite strong opposition and lobbying efforts from big technology companies. The California Senate would have to approve it later this year for it to become law.

Supporters said the legislation would help level the playing field between news publishers and large digital platforms and provide a “lifeline” to local news organizations, which rely heavily on Google’s search engine to distribute their news. content in the digital age. While the Google search engine has become the center of a digital advertising empire that generates more than $200 billion annually, news publishers have seen their advertising revenues plummet significantly in recent decades.

But opponents, including Google, Meta and some independent newsrooms, call the legislation a “connection tax” that would primarily benefit out-of-state newspaper chains and hedge funds and further decimate local news organizations. Richard Gingras, Google’s vice president of news, also told state lawmakers at a hearing last December that Google has already made significant contributions to supporting local journalism, pointing to the tech giant’s financial subsidies and training for nearly 1,000 local publications in 2023, among other programs.

Google’s search engine should be seen as “the biggest newsstand on the planet,” Gingras said, where it helps connect users to news sites more than 24 billion times a month. Google’s search engine holds an estimated 90% market share.

“This traffic, in turn, helps publishers make money by displaying ads or attracting new subscribers,” he said, adding that each click on a Google link is estimated to be worth 5 to 7 cents to a news site.

Google’s decision to temporarily remove links to news sites is not a new tactic for tech giants to use when rejecting unwanted 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 threatened to do the same in Canada. But in November, Google agreed to pay 100 million Canadian dollars (74 million US dollars) to the news industry.

News publishers would suffer and could lay off more journalists if Google completely blocked their search content, but experts say Google would also take a financial hit without news content.

“Google would be hurting itself enormously if it decided to stop using newspaper content,” Brandon Kressin, an antitrust lawyer who represents the News Media Alliance and other news publishers, told lawmakers at a hearing in December. “They would be cutting off their nose to spite their own face.”

The political dispute over Google’s dominant search engine could limit access to various news sources and comes amid legal problems that could culminate in decisions that undermine the company’s Internet empire.

After presenting evidence to support their claims that Google has abused its power to stifle competition and innovation during the biggest antitrust trial in a quarter century, lawyers from the US Department of Justice will present their closing arguments next month to a federal judge who is expected to issue a decision on the case later this year.

Following another antitrust trial that ended in December, a federal jury concluded that Google turned its app store for smartphones running its Android software into an illegal monopoly that limited consumers’ choices while enriching the company through unfairly high commissions. charged for in-app purchases. A hearing on the changes that Google will have to make as a result of this ruling is also scheduled to take place next month.

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

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Associated Press reporter Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to the report.