newgamewemix| Pay for news war burns to California, does Google want to "fight hard"?

[Liu Haoran, a special correspondent for the Global Times] in recent years, news media and technology giants have paid for contentNewgamewemixThe controversy continues. After Meta of the United States "blocked" Canadian news organizations on social platforms last year, Google of the United States recently "blocked" news organizations in California of the United States. The trigger of the matter is the California News Industry Protection Act, which is being actively promoted by the state legislature.

According to a report by the Washington Post on the 21st, the California News Industry Protection Act was passed by the House of Representatives of the California State Congress as early as March last year. Its main content is to require large Internet platforms to pay "news usage fees" for news organizations in the state. According to the media interpretation, as long as the relevant news links appear on the relevant companies' online platforms, they need to pay for the corresponding news organizations.

Tech giants led by Google and Meta criticized the bill for "obstructing the free flow of online information" and criticized the charge as a "link tax". So far, the bill has not been passed by the state Senate.

According to CNN, Google began to remove links from California news organizations on the search platform as early as the middle of this month, and made it clear that it would carry out a "total ban" on the organizations involved. However, in an announcement issued by the company, Google said the move was only a "short-term test" and did not disclose the size of the audience. Meta also said that once the bill is signed, the company will also "completely remove" relevant news links on social platforms.

Google's move sparked a fierce response from California politicians and industry. Mike McGuire, a Democratic senator from the state, lambasted Google for taking a "dangerous threat", which was clearly an "abuse of power" and "showed extraordinary arrogance". On the 18th of this month, more than 350 news and publishing organizations jointly supported the signing of the California News Industry Protection Act, including California's mainstream media such as the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. The American Press Association accused Google of violating competition law and called on the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.

Google's latest move marks another fierce collision between technology companies and news organizations. According to the Washington Post, as early as 2021, Australia passed legislation requiring companies such as Google and Meta to pay for news, and the two sides reached a compromise after a series of exchanges.

Canada also pushed for legislation aimed at American tech giants in 2023. Google adopted a similar "short-term test", while Meta directly "banned" the country's media, leaving many people in the country accustomed to using social media such as Facebook unable to receive information about the disaster during that year's wildfire disaster. In the end, Google made a compromise with the Canadian government and agreed to pay C $100 million a year for the country.NewgamewemixThe news user fee of .23 yuan), while Meta is still "tough" with the Canadian government.