Australia: new Google action against press compensation law

The Australian government and Google are struggling to find an agreement on the remuneration of the press.

DENIS CHARLET AFP / Archivos

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3 min

The pass of arms continues between Google and the Australian government which wants to force the GAFA to pay the newspaper companies when they share their articles.

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From our correspondent in Sydney,

Grégory Plesse

Less than a week after giving birth to her third child, Mel Silva was absolutely everywhere on the networks this Friday, January 29.

After being heard last week by the Senate examining the bill, the CEO of Google in

Australia

spoke directly to Australians through a video widely distributed on the Internet.

Before the senators, she had already threatened to

withdraw the search engine from the Australian market if this law was passed

.

In

this short video appearing on the home page of

the search engine, but also in the form of sponsored content on Twitter and Facebook, she explains why, according to Google, the law that the Australian government wants to adopt is dangerous: “ 

If the mere fact of showing a link to a certain type of information becomes chargeable, you destroy the way search engines work.

And it is also the end of a free and open Internet.

We are not against a new law, but it must be fair.

 "

Google's solution rejected by the mainstream media

In the same video, Mel Silva assures that Google is willing to pay to support journalism but on its own terms and through its own platform: Google News Showcase, to which just over 400 media outlets around the world have already joined.

A solution rejected by the largest newspaper companies in Australia, in particular because the financial support offered by Google, one billion dollars over three years on a global scale, is well below their expectations.

For the Australian market alone, newspaper publishers, once the legislation under review is adopted, hope to obtain from Google a minimum of 400 million euros per year.

► 

To read also: Neighboring rights: Google signed an agreement to pay the French press

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