Google Rolls Out Paid News Showcase Platform To Bypass Australia Content Law
- Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google rolled out a News Showcase platform for offering news paid by it, including a content agreement with the Australian publishers, Reuters reports.
- This rollout came just after Canberra made it mandatory for Google and Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ: FB) to pay Australian media companies for content under a law introduced in the Australian parliament in December. Google and Facebook had initially protested against the law.
- Google alleged that Australian news media businesses would gain an unfair advantage from the law.
- However, Google’s exit from Australia could prove beneficial for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), whose search engine Bing has just a minuscule 3.6% market share in Australia versus Google’s 94.5% share. Microsoft President Brad Smith’s support towards the new law further fuelled concerns.
- Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai had a meeting with the Australian Prime Minister on Thursday over the new law as per the CNBC report.
- The launch of News Showcase in Australia will involve payment to seven domestic outlets for content.
- The financial terms concerning the payment remain undisclosed.
- Google is also exploring options to forge collaboration with other influential Australian publishers.
- As per the report, Reuters inked a deal with Google to become the first global news provider to Google News Showcase last month.
- Price Action: GOOG shares closed lower by 0.37% at $2,062.37 on Thursday.
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