Faced with possibly paying for news, Google removes links to California news sites for some users

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Google on April 12 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. The bill aims to stop the loss of journalism jobs, which have been disappearing rapidly as legacy media companies have struggled to profit in the digital age. Supporters said the legislation would help level the playing field between news publishers and large digital platforms and provide a “lifeline” to local news organizations, which rely heavily on Google’s search engine to distribute their content in the digital era. While Google’s search engine has become the hub of a digital advertisement empire that generates more than $200 billion annually, news publishers saw their advertising revenues nosedive significantly in the last few decades. Richard Gingras, Google’s vice president of news, told state lawmakers that Google already made significant contributions to support local journalism. Google’s search engine should be seen as “the largest newsstand on Earth,” 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. “This traffic in turn helps publishers make money by showing ads or attracting new subscribers,” he said, adding that it’s estimated that each click on a link from Google is worth 5 cents to 7 cents to a news website. “By helping people find news stories, we help publishers of all sizes grow their audiences at no cost to them. (This bill) would upend that model,” Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s vice president for global news partnerships, wrote in the blog post. 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. This article was provided by The Associated Press.