How Google Intensifies PR Campaign over Australian Regulations
…bombard Users against Proposed Rules
US tech giant Google stepped up its public relations campaign against Australian regulations on Friday, presenting all Down Under search users with a “proposal” to water down the planned rules.
Australians searching for a term were presented with a pop-up exposing the company’s opposition to the bill that would require them to pay news companies for content.
Google and Facebook have vehemently opposed the proposed rules, which seek to rebalance the relationship between long-struggling news companies and the tech giants that dominate the online advertising market.
Under the new laws, companies would be required to compensate Australian media outlets – from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp giant to public broadcaster ABC – for posting snippets of their content in search results or in the News Feed. .
The rules are closely watched around the world, as governments consider better regulating the online media companies that have become one of the largest and most influential entities on the planet.
Google has deployed hardball tactics to try to gut the law, threatening to pull its search service out of Australia altogether and conduct an “experiment” that has blocked some users’ Australian news sites.
But Friday’s action marked a new stage in the campaign, focused on winning over Internet users for Google’s cause.
In a linked video, Mel Silva, chief executive of Google Australia, warns that the new rules “would break the way search engines work” and threaten a “free and open web”.
This view was supported by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, who recently argued that Australia’s new law – due to come into effect this year – is “unworkable” and would undermine a “fundamental principle “from the Internet.
But Google critics said Friday’s pinned post only underscored the company’s willingness to use its market dominance to its own advantage.
“Google AU: We are not a monopoly / do not participate in anti-competitive behavior … Also Google AU: we will use our 95% search market share to undermine regulation that we don’t like,” tweeted Jordan Guiao of the Australian Institute, a left-wing think tank.
