Name: Google removes Australian news content in experiment amid media bargaining code debate
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Google removes Australian news content in experiment amid media bargaining code debate

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Google admits to removing local news content in 'experiment'We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.DismisscloseAdvertisementBy Log in, or to save articles for later.Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementInternet search giant Google has admitted that it has been intermittently blocking some Australian news sites from search users.In recent days internet users have reported Australian news sites disappearing from Google's search function, with old content and links being displayed.The multinational technology giant said on Wednesday it had been running "experiments” on searches for newspaper websites including The Sydney Morning Herald that had affected only a tiny number of users."We're currently running a few experiments that will each reach about 1 per cent of Google Search users in Australia to measure the impacts of news businesses and Google Search on each other,” a spokesman said.The project would end early next month, he said."In 2018, the value we provided to publishers through referral traffic alone was estimated at $218 million.”The admission from the digital giant comes in the middle of a battle between the federal government and the tech giants over plans to force Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for displaying their content.Google is campaigning against a proposed industry code devised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which a Senate committee is examining before a final vote in Parliament early this year.Advertisement"We remain committed to getting to a workable code and look forward to working with the Senate committee, policymakers and publishers to achieve an outcome that's fair for everyone, in the interests of all Australians,” the spokesman said. However, users landing on Google's Australian search page are greeted with a message claiming there are widespread concerns about the new code.A spokesman for Nine, owner of the Herald and The Age, said the search results made it "starkly clear” that local news was critical to Google's products."Google is an effective monopoly and by withholding access to such timely, accurate and important information they show clearly how they impact what access Australians have to that,” the spokesman said."At the same time, Google are now demonstrating how easily they can make Australian news providers who fall out of their favour effectively disappear from the internet — a chilling illustration of their extraordinary market power.”A spokesman for the Treasurer declined to comment on Google's move but pointed to provisions in the proposed code that would require 14 days' notice of significant, human-made changes to its algorithm. They would prevent news organisations from being surprised by such "experiments".Mel Silva, managing director of Google Australia, said 80 per cent of submissions to the ACCC raised concerns with the plan.It is the latest bid by the company to pressure the government and crossbench over the legislation as the technology giants' power comes under increasing scrutiny following decisions by , and on Wednesday, , to suspend US President Donald Trump from their platforms.But some of the submissions Ms Silva cites support broadening the code rather than canning or restricting it, and, at a Reuters conference on Tuesday night, ACCC chairman Rod Sims made the case for a code to address the tech giants' power."Google and Facebook don't need any particular news media business, they need them all, but they don't need them individually," said Mr Sims, whose agency conducted an 18-month inquiry into the industry. "And so that meant you had massive bargaining power imbalance."Under the proposed code, media companies and tech platforms will have to negotiate a fair price for the content that the media now supplies to Facebook and Google for free, with an arbitrator to decide if talks fail."An overwhelming majority [of submissions] have concerns about key aspects of the code, or are downright opposed to it," Ms Silva said.The submissions released by the ACCC are on an earlier version of the media bargaining code, which the government has since revised in part. Some of the submissions that raise concerns with the code also want it to be extended.The most important news, analysis and insights delivered to your inbox at the start and end of each day. Sign up to The Sydney Morning Herald’s newsletter , The Age’s newsletter , Brisbane Times' and WAtoday's .Log in, or to save articles for later. is deputy editor of The Sunday Age. Previously he was a CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former media diarist and features editor of The Australian.He spent six years in London working for The Guardian. is the technology editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Sydney. He is a former industrial relations and politics reporter.Advertisement

Google admits to removing local news content in 'experiment'We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.DismisscloseAdvertisementBy Log in, or to save articles for later.Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementInternet search giant Google has admitted that it has been intermittently blocking some Australian news sites from search users.In recent days internet users have reported Australian news sites disappearing from Google's search function, with old content and links being displayed.The multinational...

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Google removes Australian news content in experiment amid media bargaining code debate

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