In reaction to a planned law that would have forced it to compensate publishers, the business removed the URLs.
The News/Media Alliance, which was formerly known as the Newspaper Association of America, has requested that federal agencies in the United States investigate Google’s decision to remove links to news media outlets in the state of California. This strategy is Google’s way of reacting to the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), which would oblige the company, along with other tech companies, to pay for links to the news content of California-based publishers.
On Tuesday, the News/Media Alliance, which is comprised of more than 2,200 publications, dispatched letters to the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Attorney General of the state of California. The removal “appears to be either coercive or retaliatory, driven by Google’s opposition to a pending legislative measure in Sacramento,” according to the statement contained in the document.
It would be required by the California Justice Policy Act (CJPA) that Google and other tech platforms pay California media outlets in exchange for links. In the previous year, the proposed bill was approved by the state Assembly.
The Vice President of Global News Partnerships at Google, Jaffer Zaidi, issued a warning about the proposed repeal of the CJPA in a blog post that was published the previous week. He stated that the CJPA is “the wrong approach to supporting journalism” (since Google’s present method has not completely destroyed the journalism business!). Zaidi stated that the CJPA “would also put small publishers at a disadvantage and limit consumers’ access to a diverse local media ecosystem.” Zaidi’s statement was made in reference to the CJPA. There is nothing to see here, folks; it is just your friendly local multi-trillion dollar firm looking out for the little guy!
The removal of the links was conducted by Google as a test to determine the impact that the measure will have on its platform:
According to what Zaidi wrote, “We are beginning a short-term test for a small percentage of California users in order to prepare for possible California Juvenile Justice Act implications.” During the testing process, we remove links to California news websites that may be covered by the California Journalism and Public Affairs Act (CJPA) in order to evaluate the effect that the legislation has on our product experience. We are also pausing further investments in the California news ecosystem due to the lack of clarity regarding the regulatory environment in California. These investments include new partnerships through Google News Showcase, our product and licensing program for news organizations, and planned expansions of the Google News Initiative.
The News/Media Alliance has included in their letters a list of various regulations that it believes Google may be violating by removing content for a “short-term” period of time. The Lanham Act, the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act are all examples of potential government statutes that could be violated legally. In the letter that was submitted to the Attorney General of California, references were made to the Unruh Civil Rights Act, prohibitions against deceptive advertising and misrepresentation, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) of the state of California.
In a letter to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, News/Media Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey wrote, “Importantly, Google released no further details on how many Californians will be affected, how the Californians who will be denied access to the news were chosen, what publications will be affected, how long the compelled news blackouts will persist, and whether access will be blocked entirely or just to content Google particularly disfavors.” Due to the fact that these unknowns are unknown, there are numerous different ways in which Google’s unilateral decision to restrict access to news websites for residents of California could be in violation of legislation.
When it comes to dealing with legislation of a similar nature, Google has a poor track record. In reaction to local copyright regulations that would have required licensing fees to be paid to publishers, Google News was removed from Spain for a period of seven years. On the other hand, it retreated from threats to remove news from search results in Canada and instead spent the $74 million that was required under the Online News Act. The arrangements that it negotiated to pay Australian publishers were estimated to be worth approximately $150 million.
During the year 2023, Google experienced a profit of more than $73 billion. The market capitalization of the corporation is approximately 1.94 trillion dollars.