ByStream Southern California's News Leader and Original Shows 24/7Google on Friday began removing California news websites from some people's search results, a test that acted as a threat should the state Legislature pass a law requiring the search giant to pay media companies for linking to their content.
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 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. Google's search engine should be seen as "the largest newsstand on Earth," Gingras said, where it helps connect users to news websites more than 24 billion times per month. Google's search engine holds an estimated 90% share of the market.
News publishers would suffer and could lay off more journalists if Google completely blocks content from its search, but experts say Google also would take a financial hit without news content.