Google blocks Australian news in 'experiment'
afr.com
afr.com
Anecdotal evidence, seen by The Australian Financial Review, suggests the search giant is experimenting with its algorithm to remove stories from Australian news publishers from its search results.
Users report searches for content from websites such as the Financial Review or the Sydney Morning Herald are delivering old links or content from other sources.
Google confirmed the experiment was happening and said it was one of tens of thousands it conducts on its search product.
"We’re currently running a few experiments that will each reach about 1 per cent of Google search users in Australia to measure the impacts of news businesses and Google search on each other," a Google spokesman said.
"These experiments will conclude by early February."
Legislation proposed by the federal government encourages Google and Facebook to strike deals with media publishers that would ensure the news creators were paid by the technology giants for their journalism.
The proposed media bargaining code is designed to restore an even playing field between digital companies and traditional media companies.
The Google spokesman said the technology giant is "committed to getting to a workable code and look forward to working with the Senate committee, policymakers, and publishers to achieve an outcome that’s fair for everyone, in the interests of all Australians.
"In 2018, the value we provided to publishers through referral traffic alone was estimated at $218 million dollars."
Google's search experiment seemed only to apply to commercial media, with The Guardian and News Corp's The Australian also appearing to be effected, while searches for ABC content were returning more normal looking results for affected users.
In December, the Financial Review revealed Google engineers were working on a secret project to exclude Australians from regular improvements to its search function and other services if the company did not agree with proposed laws to regulate how it deals with news publishers.
At the time, it was understood Google was exploring a number of scenarios to assess the effect the code of conduct might have on its products and in response were testing how its systems would work locally if it stopped its frequent updates from flowing through to Australian users for some of its products, allowing it to avoid aspects of regulation by the Morrison government's code of conduct legislation.
In September, Facebook threatened to ban all news from Facebook and Instagram if the code, in its draft format, was passed.
Nine, owner of the Financial Review, has been a major advocate of regulation of Facebook and Google.
Google's local boss Mel Silva has repeatedly claimed the proposed code would put Google's business "at enormous risk" and destroy the business model of its search product.
The code was announced by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in December last year, and the bill was introduced in Parliament before being sent to a Senate committee for review.
The revised code introduced the so-called "two-way value exchange", which an independent arbitrator would need to factor in if Google and Facebook could not reach agreement with news publishers.
The change aims to recognise the value news publishers get from Google users being directed to their content from a search or a Google News result.
Google has repeatedly pushed its product Google News Showcase, which pays publishers to create and curate content, as an appropriate environment for which to negotiate payments with media companies.
However, under the proposed code if Google and a media company were unable to successfully negotiate a payment via the Google News Showcase product, it would go to final arbitration where the arbiter would determine payment.
In a blog post published last Tuesday, Ms Silva continued to argue digital platforms are built on the premise of being able to link freely between websites.
"The new law changes that by requiring digital platforms to pay to link to content of and provide special advantages to certain news companies."