Microsoft has a ‘Plan B available’ as Google follows threats to leave Australia over plans to force digital giants to pay news organizations for content, local media reported Monday.
The Australian government has designed a mandatory news media negotiation code that will force Facebook and Google to compensate local publishers for offering news coverage on their platforms.
Both U.S. technology companies have threatened to block key services in Australia if the new law goes ahead.
Mel Silva, managing director of Google Australia, said in a parliamentary inquiry last week that the company would withdraw its popular search function from Australia if the code became law.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella contacted Prime Minister Scott Morrison within days to make it clear that Microsoft’s Bing search engine could expand if Google left, reports The Australian.
According to the newspaper, the couple spoke last week, and Nadella allegedly said that Microsoft has a ‘Plan B’ available.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed the call, saying the government was in detailed talks with ‘players across the industry’.
Australia has reserved the right to transmit the code on other platforms and it is unclear whether Microsoft’s MSN service, which links to local news reports, could be affected in the future.
“As for the current controversy over a possible code of conduct regarding Google and Facebook, Microsoft is not directly involved and we do not want to comment on the ongoing process,” a Microsoft spokesman said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also worked in Australia and contacted Frydenberg last week to discuss the code and its impact on the social media giant.
Frydenberg told the ABC it was a ‘very constructive discussion’, but ‘Zuckerberg did not convince me to return’.
Facebook has warned it could block Australian users from sharing local news stories on its platform.
“I do not threaten the threats, but I am not intimidated by them either,” Frydenberg said.
“What I do know is that media businesses have to be paid for content. And what I do know is that … whether it’s about this issue, whether it’s about cyberbullying or terrorist content on the internet, we are willing to tackle the digital giants. ‘
The law requires Google and Facebook to enter into commercial agreements with news organizations or to make compulsory arbitration over the size of payments if they do not agree to it.
The world-first proposal is being closely watched as governments wrestle with how to best curb the growing power of technology giants.
Although it received strong support from local media, the US government encouraged Australia to abandon the “troublesome” plan, and the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, warned that it could make the internet “unworkable”. .
hr / arb / rma