It used to be a joke, but it’s not that funny anymore. Google threatens to block searches in Australia if the country implements a mandatory profit-sharing agreement that will force technology giants like Google and Facebook to pay media companies for their content. But Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison is not sweating it out.
Morrison proposed Monday at the National Press Club of Australia that Australians can only use Microsoft’s search engine Bing if Google really wants to leave the country.
“Are you confident that alternative search engines will be able to fill a huge void left by Google and that Australians will not be worse off?” asks Rosie Lewis, a reporter for the Australian newspaper.
“I can tell you that Microsoft is pretty confident,” Morrison replied with a confident laugh.
“When I talked to Satya the other day, there was a bit of it,” Morrison said, rubbing his hands together, referring to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
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After the polite laugh died down, Morrison returned to the talking points he had previously made, insisting that Australians make Australian legislation and that the government would not respond kindly to any threats from Google.
‘Look, these are big tech companies. “And what’s important to Australia is that we set the rules that are important to our people,” Morrison said. “And if there is a news environment in this country that is sustainable and commercially supported, then it is essential for the functioning of democracies.”
The proposed profit-sharing program is called the Media Negotiation Code and Google users in Australia are currently flooded with advertisements about how the proposed program will harm the internet. every time they visit Google.
During today’s event, Morrison noted that over the years he has met with leaders from other countries at G20 meetings, not only on how to hold international companies accountable through taxes, but also on how to get everyone on the same page. as it antitrust and competition policy issues.
“I would like to see more consistency with these kinds of things between the world economies,” Morrison said. He may be nodding at the fact that there was little traction in the US to break any of the big tech companies sitting on the home page. .
But then Morrison pointed out the implications of the Media Negotiation Code which had not yet been at the heart of the matter. One possible consequence, as Morrison suggested, was that online speech could be regulated in new ways to ensure a more civil discussion.
“We just want the rules in the digital world to be the same as they are in the real world … in the physical world,” Morrison said. ‘And that means you can not go around abusing people and going on like people do. You will not act like that in such a room. Or I do not think you would do it.”
Needless to say, this element was not really discussed in the Australian media as a potential due to the application of the code. But it makes sense that Morrison could be sensitive about the things being said online. Morrison has become a meme more than once, aif people were talking online about the time you allegedly did shit your pants at McDonald’s, you would probably also like to land on trolls.