Google announced the move in a blog post, calling it a "short-term test for a small percentage of users... to measure the impact of the legislation on our product experience." The company said it also would pause new investments in the California news industry, including the partnership initiative with news organizations and its product licensing program.
"By helping people find news stories, we help publishers of all sizes grow their audiences at no cost to them. (This bill) would up-end that model," Jaffer Zaidi, Google's vice president for global news partnerships, wrote in the blog post.
The California Legislature is considering a bill that would require tech giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to pay a certain percentage of advertising revenue to media companies for linking to their content. How much the companies would have to pay would be decided by a panel of three judges through an arbitration process.
The bill aims to stop the loss of journalism jobs, which have been disappearing rapidly as legacy media companies have struggled to profit in the digital age. More than 2,500 newspapers have closed in the U.S. since 2005, according to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. California has lost more than 100 news organizations in the past decade, according to Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, the bill's author.
"This is a bill about basic fairness — it's about ensuring that platforms pay for the content they repurpose," Wicks said. "We are committed to continuing negotiations with Google and all other stakeholders to secure a brighter future for California journalists and ensure that the lights of democracy stay on."
The state Assembly passed the bill last year with bipartisan support despite fierce opposition and lobbying efforts from big tech companies. The California Senate would have to pass it later this year for it to become law.
This story is from the April 19, 2024 edition of AppleMagazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 19, 2024 edition of AppleMagazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EUROPE'S CYBERSECURITY CHIEF SAYS DISRUPTIVE ATTACKS HAVE DOUBLED IN 2024, SEES RUSSIA BEHIND MANY
Disruptive digital attacks, many linked to Russian-backed groups, have doubled in the European Union in recent months and are also targeting election-related services, according to the EU's top cybersecurity official.
NOT A GYM RAT? HERE'S HOW TO GET STARTED ON AN OUTDOOR EXERCISE ROUTINE
Between the sweat smell, fluorescent lights and omnipresent television screens, April Herring has never connected with going to the gym.
THE 'MAD MAX' SAGA TREADS (HARD-TO-FIND) WATER WITH FRUSTRATING 'FURIOSA'
At the beginning of \"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,\" we are introduced to a kick-ass woman who rides a horse, then a motorbike, nails a few bad guys with sharpshooting finesse and fights off a mob. But it's not Furiosa — it's her mom.
NORTH KOREAN ROCKET CARRYING ITS 2ND SPY SATELLITE EXPLODES SHORTLY AFTER LAUNCH
A rocket launched by North Korea to deploy the country's second spy satellite exploded shortly after liftoff Monday, state media reported, in a setback for leader Kim Jong Un's hopes to operate multiple satellites to better monitor the U.S. and South Korea.
JUDGE WEIGHS PROPOSED CHANGES TO GOOGLE'S ANDROID APP STORE TO PREVENT ANTICOMPETITIVE TACTICS
Google is tried to confront the latest in a succession of legal attacks on its digital empire as federal judge began to address anticompetitive practices in the app market for smartphones powered by its Android software.
T-MOBILE TO BUY ALMOST ALL OF U.S CELLULAR IN DEAL WORTH $4.4 BILLION WITH DEBT
T-Mobile is buying U.S. Cellular's wireless operations and certain spectrum assets in a deal valued at $4.4 billion, and further consolidating the industry.
AUTHORITIES ARREST MAN ALLEGEDLY RUNNING “LIKELY WORLD'S LARGEST EVER" CYBERCRIME BOTNET
An international law enforcement team has arrested a Chinese national and disrupted a major botnet that officials said he ran for nearly a decade, amassing at least $99 million in profits by reselling access to criminals who used it for identity theft, child exploitation and financial fraud including pandemic relief scams.
ARM OFFERS NEW DESIGNS, SOFTWARE FOR AI ON SMARTPHONES
Arm Holdings this week unveiled new chip blueprints and software tools to help smartphones handle artificial intelligence tasks, along with changes to how it delivers those blueprints that could help speed their adoption.
CATS ON THE MOON? GOOGLE'S AI TOOL IS PRODUCING MISLEADING RESPONSES THAT HAVE EXPERTS WORRIED
Ask Google if cats have been on the moon and it used to spit out a ranked list of websites so you could discover the answer for yourself.
TOP APPLE EXEC ACKNOWLEDGES SHORTCOMINGS IN EFFORT TO BRING COMPETITION IN IPHONE APP PAYMENTS
Longtime Apple executive Phil Schiller last week acknowledged a court-ordered makeover of the U.S. payment system in its iPhone app store hasn't done much to increase competition - a shortcoming that could result in a federal judge demanding more changes.
