Prime Minister Scott Morrison in talks with Google boss Sundar Pichai
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has held a meeting with global Google chief Sundar Pichai following the tech giant’s threat to shut down search in Australia if proposed media compensation laws come into effect.
Mr Morrison was joined in the online meeting on Thursday morning by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is leading the government’s push to force Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for using their content on their platforms.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai held talks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday after Microsoft declared it was prepared to fill the void in Australia’s search engine market should Google carry out its threatened exit.Credit:AP
The meeting comes after rival Microsoft declared its support for the proposed laws on Wednesday and pledged to invest in its search engine Bing to fill the void in the event Google exited the market.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said he and global chief executive, Satya Nadella, had met with Mr Morrison last week to inform him the company “fully supported” the news media bargaining code.
“We are comfortable with a model that, frankly, reduces the revenue that is coming to the search service and increases the revenue that is going to news publishers,” Mr Smith told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Microsoft is not currently subject to the proposed code, which will force Google and Facebook into binding commercial agreements to pay Australian news providers for the ability to display news content in newsfeeds and search results.
But Mr Smith said the company would be prepared to sign up to the code if required and was prepared to pay publishers.
The Morrison government has been locked in a battle of brinkmanship with the platforms since unveiling the code on December 8. A final vote on the code is expected early this year after a Senate committee examining the laws delivers its report on February 12.
Both Google and Facebook say the code is “unworkable” in its current form. Google has threatened to turn off its search engine in Australia if the proposed code becomes law, while Facebook has said it would be forced to remove news articles from its main app.
Australia’s largest media companies such as Nine Entertainment Co, owner of this masthead, and News Corp are urging the government to pass the laws.
Mr Frydenberg also revealed this week that he had been contacted by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to discuss concerns about the code.
“Mark Zuckerberg did not convince me to back down,” Mr Frydenberg told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
Lisa Visentin is a federal political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, covering education and communications.