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The whole world is watching this one, says tech commentator Paul Brislen. The stoush is over the proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code expected to come into force this year. Australia says it s a world first and will address the bargaining power imbalance between news media businesses and digital platforms. Google and Facebook say it’s unfair and unworkable, and that the whole model of internet searches relies on links to information being freely available, with the searcher making the choice of which platform to turn to.
Getty Images But Brislen tells
The Detail s Sharon Brettkelly that when you do an internet search under news stories, the result will pull out not just a headline and a link, but also some of the copy.
Today
The Detail looks at why the digital giants are looking at the drastic move, and at the backlash - with one Kiwi adman saying it s bully behaviour and Australia should tell them to go and get stuffed .
The Financial Times has even compared the situation to the iconic
Crocodile Dundee scene where a baddie flourishes a knife at our heroes - only to be trumped by a bigger knife. The message is Google would be better off agreeing to a deal than provoking angry lawmakers. The whole world is watching this one, says tech commentator Paul Brislen.
The stoush is over the proposed
Microsoft has called Google s bluff in Australia, revealing plans to invest further in its local search engine in response to Google s threats to withdraw services from the country. In a cutting statement aimed at its trillion-dollar rival, Microsoft also revealed its full support of Australia s proposed news media bargaining laws, conceding it would be prepared to pay for news. It added that while other tech companies may sometimes threaten to leave Australia, Microsoft will never make such a threat . The software giant s bold stance came after Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella spoke with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher last week, and followed a threat from Google to withdraw its search engine from Australia to evade laws that would make it pay local media outlets for the news it used on its platform.