Google threatens to stop linking news in New Zealand

In a similar move to Australia, New Zealand aims to introduce legislation to give news organisations bargaining power with tech giants.

Google has said that it will stop linking to news content and discontinue commercial agreements with news publishers in New Zealand if the country passes the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill.

 In a submission to the country’s parliament, Google said it makes “no sense” for search engines to pay for providing traffic to news businesses and calls the bill “fundamentally misconceived” and “flawed,” adding that it “would not lead to fair outcomes” for the country’s citizens, media organisations or digital platforms operating there.

“While Google supports efforts to foster a sustainable future for New Zealand news, this Bill is not the right approach,” said Caroline Rainsford, Google’s New Zealand director today (4 October).

The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill was brought forward for consideration in New Zealand in July this year and would require large platforms to pay licensing fees for news content.

The bill’s objective is to establish what it describes as “equitable treatment” for all news media – from rural, regional and Māori outlets to public news media entities – by creating a “good-faith bargaining environment” and providing a way for news media organisations to be “viable” in a digital marketplace.

Search engines such as Google showcase news content on its search results which it says is protected under copyright law, adding that it always links to the news sites along with the headlines and short summarised snippets. “These types of use of content do not infringe news businesses’ copyright in news content,” the company claims.

The Alphabet-owned company claims that Google Search had sent more than 628mn clicks and visits to New Zealand news websites.

As it stands, the Bill is still under review. “We are still in the consultation phase and will make announcements in due course,” said New Zealand minister for media and communications Paul Goldsmith in a statement.

“My officials and I have met with Google on a number of occasions to discuss their concerns, and will continue to do so.”

New Zealand follows other countries including Australia, Canada and Malaysia in trying to make tech giants such as Google and Meta pay for news to support an industry suffering a funding crisis.

It “a world-first initiative” in 2021, Australia passed the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, which was designed to make large platforms pay local news publishers to feature their content. Though a government review a year later found the bill to be largely successful, noting that Google had reached 23 commercial agreements with news publishers, more recently Google has been renegotiating initial agreements in the country, according to ABC news.

Last year, Google reached a deal to provide $100m in “financial support” to news businesses across Canada, including independent outlets and those from indigenous and official minority communities.

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