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There’s a bit more to it than that. In previous iterations of this fight in other countries Google either has to pay the local media organisations to link to t

There’s a bit more to it than that. In previous iterations of this fight in other countries Google either has to pay the local media organisations to link to their sites, or they might choose not to link to them, close Google News Australia, and pay no one. The twist in Oz is that the government has stipulated that if Google doesn’t link to local media, then it cannot link to international media offering news, either. The choice given to Google is either you link news and pay Aussie firms, or you offer zero news at all. This prevents Google from simply delisting local media and offering up alternative US, UK, Canadian, NZer sites that would - sensing new eyeballs - likely step up and cover Aussie news. In addition, Google has to give the media companies 14 days advance warning of any change to their search algorithm that might impact the media organizations. In reality, that probably means giving this subset of corporations in Australia a heads-up on every algorithm change. Hence, Google’s choice is less about 'list Aussie news and pay' or 'list no Aussie news’, it’s ‘list Aussie news and pay and share your search algorithm changes in advance of any change’ or ‘don’t offer search in Australia’. Facebook (also concerned by the changes) has already said/threatened to stop sharing of news articles in Australia to align with the regulation. If Google also pulled back, I’m not sure the media companies would be so very happy.

jfoster 6y ago
It still seems to me that there might be other options. What if Google News picked a small set of the more cooperative Australian publishers to work with? In order to handle the algorithm side of things, what if they deindex news in the primary Google search and notified of changes in just the Google News algorithms? Do the regulations not allow these solutions in some way, or is this being dramatised? I don't mean to favour the regulations in any way. I'm just a bit skeptical of "shut down search altogether" being something Google would seriously consider in response to this threat.
- squiggleblaz 6y ago
  > What if Google News picked a small set of the more cooperative Australian publishers to work with? It's a compulsory, arbitrated deal. They don't get to pick and choose. Indeed, we're told that Google's market might is precisely the justification for this code. They're said to be too big for media companies to obtain a fair deal, so they are obliged to participate with any media company that wants in. > In order to handle the algorithm side of things, what if they deindex news in the primary Google search and notified of changes in just the Google News algorithms? Something like this might be possible. Deindexing just news but permitting other searches certainly was floated as one of a few possibilities.
  - jfoster 6y ago
    > Deindexing just news but permitting other searches certainly was floated as one of a few possibilities. From what I've read, they're even running a 1% of users test for it. Certainly makes it seem as though they're being a bit misleading by threatening to pull search altogether.
dingaling 6y ago
> The choice given to Google is either you link news and pay Aussie firms, or you offer zero news at all. Well then, bundle all news site indexing into a standalone Google News ( not available in .au ) product and declutter the standard search engine. Everyone would benefit from cleaner search results and if they want to search trending news they'd just have to click the news tab.
- golem14 6y ago
  I think it's not as simple as that. What's classified as "News" ? A lab in japan, or Tesla having a press release on new battery tech ? A website update from USGS on the Kilauea eruption ? A new project on hackaday ? Google probably does not want to be in a position where a creative lawyer hauls them into an AU court for imagined harm to the AU news companies losing out on opportunities to monetize. It's a hard call, and I can believe it if they say it may be better to move entirely out of Australia. No presence whatsoever. It was a hard call to determine how to deal with China as well, and I don't quite know where things stand there now. There's a long and contorted history.

jfoster 6y ago

It still seems to me that there might be other options. What if Google News picked a small set of the more cooperative Australian publishers to work with? In order to handle the algorithm side of things, what if they deindex news in the primary Google search and notified of changes in just the Google News algorithms? Do the regulations not allow these solutions in some way, or is this being dramatised? I don't mean to favour the regulations in any way. I'm just a bit skeptical of "shut down search altogether" being something Google would seriously consider in response to this threat.

squiggleblaz 6y ago
> What if Google News picked a small set of the more cooperative Australian publishers to work with? It's a compulsory, arbitrated deal. They don't get to pick and choose. Indeed, we're told that Google's market might is precisely the justification for this code. They're said to be too big for media companies to obtain a fair deal, so they are obliged to participate with any media company that wants in. > In order to handle the algorithm side of things, what if they deindex news in the primary Google search and notified of changes in just the Google News algorithms? Something like this might be possible. Deindexing just news but permitting other searches certainly was floated as one of a few possibilities.
- jfoster 6y ago
  > Deindexing just news but permitting other searches certainly was floated as one of a few possibilities. From what I've read, they're even running a 1% of users test for it. Certainly makes it seem as though they're being a bit misleading by threatening to pull search altogether.

dingaling 6y ago

> The choice given to Google is either you link news and pay Aussie firms, or you offer zero news at all. Well then, bundle all news site indexing into a standalone Google News ( not available in .au ) product and declutter the standard search engine. Everyone would benefit from cleaner search results and if they want to search trending news they'd just have to click the news tab.

golem14 6y ago
I think it's not as simple as that. What's classified as "News" ? A lab in japan, or Tesla having a press release on new battery tech ? A website update from USGS on the Kilauea eruption ? A new project on hackaday ? Google probably does not want to be in a position where a creative lawyer hauls them into an AU court for imagined harm to the AU news companies losing out on opportunities to monetize. It's a hard call, and I can believe it if they say it may be better to move entirely out of Australia. No presence whatsoever. It was a hard call to determine how to deal with China as well, and I don't quite know where things stand there now. There's a long and contorted history.