In recent months, the Australian government has prepared legislation to force Google (and Facebook) to pay local publishers for content that appears in Search and News. The tech companies have come out against this proposal, and Google today sent a direct letter to its Australian users.
At the end of May, Google will release a release that explains how its business works. Namely how it does not make money from the Google News app or through surface of news content in Search. Instead, the company states that it delivers tremendous value to publications by linking to articles and providing an international audience, which generates ad clicks.
Google users in Australia today see the following prompt with a link to an open letter:
The way Aussies use Google is in jeopardy
Your search experience will be hurt by new regulations
There are three main arguments in the open letter that oppose the “News Media Negotiation Code” as it stands today.
Google says it would be forced to give an unfair advantage to news media companies, making Search and YouTube results “worse for you”. This means that “one group” is provided with “information that helps them to inflate their rankings on all others, even if someone gives a better result.”
In the context of YouTube, this means “giving big news publishers confidential information” about how the algorithm works. This has disadvantaged all other creators and “would mean you could get fewer views and earn less.”
The next concern is that Google will be forced to “tell news media companies ‘how they can access’ data about your use of our products.”
There is no way to know if data transmitted is protected, or how it can be used by news media companies.
Finally, Google states that these laws endanger the free nature of its services.
Google has a separate open letter to YouTubers in Australia criticizing how the law “prioritises the traditional news industry over smaller content creators and the platforms where they find an audience.” One specific argument is how news media companies can “demand large sums of money above and beyond what they earn on the platform.”
The company is working to get changes to the proposed legislation, and will provide ways for users to participate in the coming days. Google Australia’s Twitter account has updated her avatar to a yellow warning sign as part of this push.
FTC: We use revenue-generating links for auto-affiliate. More.
Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:
