Google has warned that it will stop linking to New Zealand news content if the government moves forward with a proposed law requiring tech giants to pay local media outlets for using their content.
On Friday, Google announced that if the government of New Zealand passes legislation requiring digital companies to pay a reasonable price for information that shows up in their feeds, it will no longer link to stories from local news outlets and will no longer enter into agreements with them.
In July, the New Zealand government announced that it would move on with legislation that was initiated by the previous Labour Party-led government and that guarantees equitable income sharing between news media organisations and digital platform owners.
Since the draft law is still being reviewed, it is expected to undergo revisions, some of which will align it with Australian law.
In a blog post, Caroline Rainsford, the country director of Google New Zealand, stated that Google would have to drastically alter its investments and product offerings if the bill as it is now draughted were to become law.
"We’d be forced to stop linking to news content on Google Search, Google News or Discover surfaces in New Zealand and discontinue our current commercial agreements and ecosystem support with New Zealand news publishers," Rainsford said.
Alphabet Inc.'s Google is worried that the bill goes against the principle of an open internet, that it will hurt small publishers, and that the unrestricted financial risk will cause uncertainty for businesses.
