• Google has started off the new year with a fresh attack against Australia’s proposed news media bargaining code.
• Australian managing director Mel Silva said that code would “break” the company’s search engine by pathing the way to non-media businesses demanding payment for link outs.
• The government’s law is before a Senate Committee and is expected to be voted on early this year.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

As Australia circles closer to passing a law that would force two tech giants to negotiate with news publishers to pay for content, Google has escalated its argument.

The plan, they claim, would break the way the Google search engine works because they would be forced to pay every business they link out to.

On Wednesday, Google Australia’s Managing Director Mel Silva launched the company’s 2021 defence against the Federal Government’s proposed news media bargaining code in a blog post.

Noting that the bill — which would force Facebook and Google to sit down with media companies and come to an agreement over a price to pay for linking to Australian news — will soon be put to Parliament for a vote, Silva stepped up the rhetoric against the code.

“If the Code became law today, it would break the way Google Search works undermining the benefits of the internet for millions of Australians, from small business owners across the country, to literally anyone trying to find information online,” she wrote.

Google’s latest argument claims that the code’s proposed outcome will lead to a “slippery slope” situation in which a search engine will need to pay to link to any business, rather than just Australian news media companies.

“After all, if one type of business gets paid for appearing in Search, why shouldn’t others? Going down that route would destroy the business model of any search engine, Google included. And if a search engine has to pay to show links, what’s to stop links elsewhere coming with a price tag, too?” she wrote.

This latest argument builds on previous criticisms that the code gives Australian news publishers preferential treatment and that it doesn’t recognise the contribution that the tech giants make by linking to publishers.

(The final version of the bill neutralised the latter argument, allowing two-way bargaining to recognise both parties’ value to each other).

Google’s criticisms come with a offered solution: it’s News Showcase initiative.

“We’re proposing to reach deals to pay publishers through Google News Showcase, a program we’ll invest AU$1.3 billion in globally over the next three years to help news businesses publish and promote their stories online—paying for their editorial expertise and beyond-the-paywall access to their journalism, rather than for links,” Silva wrote.

“Since News Showcase launched last year, we’ve doubled the number of publications that are part of the program globally to more than 400—and we know Australian publishers want to be involved.

“We think News Showcase is the right solution for negotiating payments to publishers under the Code. It offers a fair, practical way forward, meets the original goals of the law, and helps secure a strong future for Australian news.”

The Senate Standing Committee on Economics is accepting submissions on the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020 until 18 January.

The Committee is set to provide a report by 12 February, and is expected to go before Parliament shortly after.

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