Summarised by Centrist
Google has announced plans to restrict access to California news sites for certain users as part of its response to the California Journalism Preservation Act. The bill, if signed into law, would require tech companies like Google to pay news outlets for using their content alongside advertising.
Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s vice president of Global News Partnerships, criticised the bill, stating it would force significant changes to Google’s services and impact traffic to California publishers. As a result, Google is pausing investments in the California “news ecosystem”, including new partnerships and expansions through its Google News initiative.
While Google has partnered with thousands of news publishers globally, including many in California, Zaidi says he’s concerned that the bill has the potential to disrupt the current model of providing news and growing publishers’ audiences.
The bill’s supporters argue it would benefit struggling news outlets, but critics, including Google, believe it could favour larger media companies and hinder smaller outlets.
Zaidi noted a shift in how people consume news, with only a fraction of searches on Google being news-related compared to other forms of media consumption like videos, social media, and podcasts.
