“We Don’t Use News Content, We Link To It”: Google Launches Fresh Campaign Against Bargaining Code

Palo Alto, California, USA - January 02, 2018: Google parking street/pavement sign. Title of a Google on a parking spots for Google employees in Silicon Valley.

Google is continuing its fight against the proposed News Media Bargaining Code, launching a new campaign to highlights its positive contribution to the news industry.

In the latest blog, Google News looks to reframe perceptions around how the company ‘uses’ news content.

“Google doesn’t “use” news content—we link you to it, just like we link you to every other page on the web—think Wikipedia entries, personal blogs or business websites,” the company said.

“We sort through hundreds of billions of webpages to find the most relevant, useful results in a fraction of a second, and present them in a way that helps you find what you’re looking for—and then we take you to the source of that information.”

The tech giant also unveiled a new video of the weekend, which highlights the fact Google Search and Google News sent 3.4 billion ‘clicks’ to Australian news publishers in 2018.

It also pointed to a recent deal which saw Google agree to pay certain publishers through a licencing program.

who killed classifieds?

Much of the recent commentary around the proposed code has suggested Google is to blame for the decline in newspaper revenue.

But in its latest blog, Google points the finger back at those publishers.

Pointing to Google-commissioned research by AlpaBeta, Google said: “The loss of newspaper revenue resulted primarily from the loss of classified ads to online classifieds businesses such as Domain, Realestate.com.au, Carsales and Seek. Between 2002 and 2018, newspaper revenue fell from $4.4 billion to $3.0 billion.

“Of that decline, 92 per cent. was from the loss of classified ads, and most of these classified revenues went to specialist online providers that target niches such as job advertisements, second-hand goods, or real estate listings. Almost none went to Google.”

Google’s latest attack on the proposed code comes just days after Facebook threatened to remove news content altogether for Australian users and publishers if the code is made into law.

 




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