Google Says It Will Stop Linking to New Zealand News if Proposed New Law Is Passed

Google has warned that it would no longer link to articles and terminate its agreements with local news organizations if the country’s government follows through on a law forcing tech giants to pay a fair price for content appearing on their feeds.

In July, the New Zealand government confirmed that it would proceed with the legislation initiated by the previous Labour Party-led government that secures fair revenue sharing between operators of digital platforms and news media entities. At present, the proposed legislation still awaits review and is highly likely to have undergone some sort of alteration to bring it much more in line with its Australian legislation counterpart.

According to Google New Zealand Country Director Caroline Rainsford in a blog post, if the bill as it currently reads were passed into law, then Google would have to overhaul its products and investments entirely.

“We would have to cease our linking of news content on Google Search, Google News or Discover surfaces in New Zealand and end our existing commercial agreements and ecosystem support with New Zealand news publishers,” Rainsford said.

Google, which is owned by Alphabet, is concerned that the bill violates the open concept of the Internet, hurts little publishers, and the unlimited financial liability creates business risk.

New Zealand Minister for Media and Communications Paul Goldsmith said he was considering the spectrum of views in the sector.

“We are still in the consultation phase and will make announcements in due course,” he said in a statement. “My officials and I have met with Google on a number of occasions to discuss their concerns and will continue to do so.”

Despite minority government coalition partner ACT not being supportive of the legislation, it is likely the legislation will get enough cross party support when finalised for passage.

In 2021, the Australian parliament passed a law that gave the government the authority to enforce on internet companies the bargaining to negotiate content supply deals with media outlets. Review conducted by the Australian government in 2022 confirmed that it worked mainly.