So, creating a new cost center for online publishers and search engines and directing how the rentseeking profits have to be spent. Neat. There are 100 reasons

So, creating a new cost center for online publishers and search engines and directing how the rentseeking profits have to be spent. Neat. There are 100 reasons this is a bad idea -- news sites already have paywalls if they want to restrict access, people have a wealth of choices, etc. The proper policy response would be to just exile the idea to oblivion in committee. But if that doesn't happen and it passes? I hope the social giants push back by blocking local news results in California. Hard mode: They could push for legislation to break the stranglehold local papers have on legal advertising. In an operating environment that's seen newspaper ad revenue drop by more than three-quarters in the last 20 years, revenue from legal ads has remained stable with very low associated costs. At many small papers, it's the dominant revenue and profit stream. Going after it would be playing hardball, but so is getting a state legislator to propose milking tech companies when local newspapers can't fix their own business model.