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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Google threatens to remove its search engine from Australia if new law goes into effect [theverge.com]

Google is threatening to pull its search engine from an entire country — Australia — if a proposed law goes into effect that would force Google to pay news publishers for their content.

"If this version of the Code were to become law it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia," Google Australia and New Zealand VP Mel Silva told Australia's Senate Economics Legislation Committee today.

"We have had to conclude after looking at the legislation in detail we do not see a way, with the financial and operational risks, that we could continue to offer a service in Australia," she added, according to The Sydney Morning Herald [smh.com.au].

The company, which has been lobbying against Australia's plan for months [theverge.com], claims the country is trying to make it pay to show links and snippets to news stories in Google Search, not just for news articles featured in places like Google News, saying it "would set an untenable precedent for our business, and the digital economy" and that it's "not compatible with how search engines work."

Also at TechRadar [techradar.com] and CNN [cnn.com].

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