Law averted: Google pays millions to publishers in California
To avoid being legally obliged to make payments, Google voluntarily pays millions to publishers. They are not happy.
(Image: Bubble_Tea Stock/Shutterstock.com)
California had planned a law, also known as a link tax. To avert this, Google now prefers to voluntarily pay millions to publishers. However, journalists still call the deal a disaster.
Under the planned law, Google would pay publishers money for using content and links, for example to display them in search results. Google earns money from advertising displayed around content and links. Without content from publishers and other content creators, this would not be possible, say supporters of the law. Opponents counter that thanks to the links displayed by Google, people would first come to the sites of the content creators, who in turn earn money from advertising on their sites. The California Journalism Preservation Act would have affected Meta as well as Google.
The lawful use of publishers' content by Google and Meta has also been discussed in other countries. In Canada and Australia, the term "link tax" has prevailed in the debate. However, it has not yet been introduced in this form anywhere. And even in California, Google was able to circumvent the relevant law by committing to voluntary payments.
Journalists say deal supports monopolists
Over the next five years, Google is to provide 250 million US dollars for local newsrooms. Among other things, the deal provides for the development of an AI program to support journalists in their work. The state of California will also contribute to journalism and the measures. For example, while Google is to provide 15 million dollars for a journalism fund in the first year, the US state will pay 30 million dollars.
The deal was signed by the California News Publishers Association, Google and OpenAI. Criticism has come from journalists' representatives. They had supported the original bill but were excluded from the negotiations on the current deal. CNN points to a joint statement in which it says: "The future of journalism should not be negotiated behind closed doors." The agreement supports monopolists and is a "disastrous deal" with Google.
In the fight against the planned law, Google had already stopped posting links to press products from Californian news outlets, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times, months ago. According to Google, this was a test to find out the effects of the law.
Read also
(emw)