As a disclaimer I work for Google but have no special insight so feel free to not take my word for it My understanding is that the regulation covers 2 types of

As a disclaimer I work for Google but have no special insight so feel free to not take my word for it My understanding is that the regulation covers 2 types of content: One is web pages or apps that use "story panels" containing excerpts of articles, like you see in the Discover feed on Android, or when looking at articles from certain publishers in Google News. In some places (notably France), Google already pays publishers for this. Google would also be required to pay when regular search results include links to Australian news websites (not sure if the payments would be based on views or click-throughs). Having to pay for linking to websites is a lot more unusual and probably not a precedent that Google wants to see (especially since the law wouldn't apply equally to all search engines)