Ever since Google did away with its famous “don’t be evil” catchphrase, the company has been in some serious hot water. From anti-trust suits to massive fines, the company has seen its fair share of bad press in recent memory. Now, Google is in a legal battle in Australia in regards to its news practices, that could result in the search engine leaving the country entirely. Yet, this comes just after inking a deal in France that will see Google pay news publishers for their content. If you’re scratching your head at the inconsistencies, you’re not alone! Google has been fighting this deal for quite some time, but stringent EU regulations and hungry French competition watchdog FCA ensured that the deal would go through. And of course, now that it has, Google is more than happy to take some credit for eventually “doing” a good thing. Google hasn’t confirmed exactly how much publishers would be receiving, but the company has noted that it will be negotiating on a case by case basis. Hopefully publishers aren’t subjected to the same kind of meager compensation that Spotify has become known for in the music industry, but hey, at least it’s a step in the right direction. In response, Google has said that, if the law is put into effect, that the company would have to “stop making Google Search available in Australia.” This would be a big, dramatic move by the search engine, given the 18 million Google users in Australia. Still, the country hasn’t backed down yet, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying, in no uncertain terms, that they “don’t respond to threats.” With both Google and Australia playing hardball with their news strategies, we could see some serious fireworks as this legal battle plays out. And again, if you’re confused about why Australia is getting the boot while France gets the pot, there’s a clear difference between these two policies that is very important to understand. This is where the details of the respective proposals are so important. In France, publishers are being paid for the snippets of news featured in the Google News Showcase platform. Conversely, the new law in Australia would require Google to pay publishers for links featured on the search engine. This move, as the inventor of the world wide web put it, would be at odds with the basic tenets of the internet. Getting a massively successful company like Google to support the journalism industry is honestly a great idea, and a reasonable precedent has clearly been set by French publishers. Still, you can only push a tech giant like Google so far before they start pushing back. Once all the facts are laid out, it really does seem like Australia is asking too much. Simply put, the idea of having to pay every single publisher that appears in a search query would truly disrupt the way the internet functions as a whole. While the threat to pull out of Australia may seem dramatic, it could end up being the search engine’s only option if Australia continues to push through with this law. After all, when the inventor of the world wide web is telling you to back down, you should probably listen.
