Google says it will stop linking to New Zealand news if a law passes forcing it to pay for content

People arrive at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay, File)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Google said Friday it will stop linking to New Zealand news content and will reverse its support of local media outlets if the government passes a law forcing tech companies to pay for articles displayed on their platforms.

The vow to sever Google traffic to New Zealand news sites — made in a blog post by the search giant on Friday — echoes strategies the firm deployed as Australia and Canada prepared to enact similar laws in recent years.

It followed a surprise announcement by New Zealand’s government in July that lawmakers would advance a bill forcing tech platforms to strike deals for sharing revenue generated from news content with the media outlets producing it.

The government, led by center-right National, had opposed the law in 2023 when introduced by the previous administration.

But the loss of more than 200 newsroom jobs earlier this year — in a national media industry that totaled 1,600 reporters at the 2018 census and has likely shrunk since — prompted the current government to reconsider forcing tech companies to pay publishers for displaying content.

The law aims to stanch the flow offshore of advertising revenue derived from New Zealand news products.

Google New Zealand Country Director Caroline Rainsford wrote Friday that the firm would change its involvement in the country’s media landscape if it passed.

“Specifically, 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,” she wrote.

Google’s licensing program in New Zealand contributed “millions of dollars per year to almost 50 local publications,” she added.

The News Publishers’ Association, a New Zealand sector group, said in a written statement Friday that Google’s pledge amounted to “threats” and reflected “the kind of pressure that it has been applying” to the government and news outlets, Public Affairs Director Andrew Holden said.

The government “should be able to make laws to strengthen democracy in this country without being subjected to this kind of corporate bullying,” he said.

Australia was the first country to attempt to force tech firms — including Google and Meta — to the bargaining table with news outlets through a law passed in 2021. At first, the tech giants imposed news blackouts for Australians on their platforms, but both eventually somewhat relented, striking deals reportedly worth 200 million Australian dollars (US$137 million) a year, paid to Australian outlets for use of their content.

But Belinda Barnet, a media expert at Swinburne University in Melbourne, said Meta has refused to renew its contracts with Australian news media while Google is renegotiating its initial agreements.

As Canada prepared to pass similar digital news bargaining laws in 2023, Google and Meta again vowed to cease their support for the country’s media. Last November, however, Google promised to contribute 100 million Canadian dollars (US$74 million) — indexed to inflation — in financial support annually for news businesses across the country.

Colin Peacock, an analyst who hosts the Mediawatch program on RNZ, New Zealand’s public radio broadcaster, said Google “doesn’t want headlines around the world that say another country has pushed back” by enacting such a law.

While Google pointed Friday to its support of local outlets, Peacock said one of its funding recipients – the publisher of a small newspaper – had told a parliamentary committee this year that the amount he received was “a pittance” and not enough to hire a single graduate reporter.

Minister for Media and Communications Paul Goldsmith told The Associated Press in a written statement on Friday that he was still consulting on the next version of the bill.

“My officials and I have met with Google on a number of occasions to discuss their concerns, and will continue to do so,” he said.

Goldsmith said in July that he planned to pass the law by the end of the year.

Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk contributed reporting from Melbourne, Australia.