Canberra: Google has agreed to pay money for the news by signing deals with seven media institutions including Australia’s Canberra Times. The US tech giant has launched a platform called News Showcase on Friday. It has paid for news. In fact, Google had earlier opposed legislation made to pay the Australian government’s media institutions. Google had already rolled out the news showcase in Brazil and Germany in June last year. But Google had put it in abeyance on the terms of mandatory payment to media organizations in Australia. Australia has given a similar order to Facebook. Google has a 53 percent share in the online advertising market and 23 percent of Facebook. There is also a provision to impose fines on both companies for not following this law.
Google had threatened Australia a few days ago that it would shut down its search engine if it was forced to pay local publishers for the news. On the other hand, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morison said that he does not respond to threats. After this, there was a clear indication to Google that the Australian Government will not back down from this law at any cost.
Legislation is under consideration with the parliamentary committee
In Australia, this legislation, known as the Media Bargaining Code, is still under consideration with the Parliamentary Committee. After extensive discussion, voting on this bill will also be done in Parliament. The Government of Australia, while presenting this bill, claimed that it would be a big reform. Google’s news showcase in Australia has been made live. To use it, Google will now pay to the media institutions with which it has deals.
