Google has warned its Australian users that its services could be " endangered " by a bill that would force the search engine to pay newspaper publishers.
This text unveiled at the end of July by the Australian competition authority (ACCC) would impose a " code of conduct " on Google and Facebook to force them to negotiate with the Australian media whose content they publish. Both companies could be forced to return part of their advertising profits to them. They would also be required to reveal to them how their algorithms influence the presentation of information about their services, as well as the ways in which they collect data from users who view articles online.
So many proposals that meet fierce opposition from the two web giants. On Monday, Google published an open letter warning Australians against the consequences of such a law. " This code of conduct would force us to reduce the quality of our search engine and YouTube, could make your data fall into the hands of the big news companies, and put the services you use for free in danger ", warned the 'business.
According to Google, the data it would be forced to provide to Australian media would give them an unfair advantage over its own YouTube video platform, as well as other websites. " This would help them artificially inflate their ranking in search results, to the detriment of more relevant results ," he warned. The search engine is also concerned about the security of its users' data. " We have no guarantees regarding their protection and use, " Google criticized.
Facebook has also taken a stand against this bill, arguing that it risks reducing the quality of its services. In June, the social network went so far as to threaten Australian media with no longer publishing their content, suggesting that it could stop broadcasting their articles " without significantly affecting [its] performance in Australia ".
Australia denounces Google's "disinformation"
In response, the Australian competition policeman denounced the " disinformation " contained in the open letter from Google. “ Google won't have to charge Australians for its free services such as its search engine and YouTube, unless it chooses to do so. Google will not have to share the information of its users with Australian media, unless it chooses to do so, ”insists the ACCC.
In France, press editors are also in conflict with Google on the subject of neighboring rights. The Competition Authority forced the company to negotiate with the media to pay them, as the law provides, compensation for the dissemination of their content, but the search engine appealed against these measures. Recently, French and German publishers have opened a common front against Google by creating a collecting society which will be responsible for negotiating the amount of neighboring rights with the platforms.