Google late last week temporarily blocked links from local news outlets in California from appearing in search results as a response to a proposed bill that would force tech companies to pay publications for links to articles.
The California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), which cleared the state assembly with strong bipartisan support last June and will be considered by the state legislature later this year, would require large online platforms to pay a quarterly “usage fee” for linking to news sites, based on a percentage of that site's ad revenue.
In a press release Friday, Google’s VP of Global News Partnerships, Jaffer Zaidi explained that Google is experimenting with “removing links to California news websites,” as a simulation of the bill’s potential impacts.
Yet it’s unclear how many people, and exactly which outlets this change affects. When asked directly by Next TV, Google’s PR team said they “weren’t sharing anything” beyond their initial blog post.
“Google’s response is another data point that actually supports the need for the legislation and shows the merits of the scrutiny they are facing from the U.S. Department of Justice,” said Chris Argentieri, the president and COO of the fifth-largest U.S. newspaper, the Los Angeles Times in a statement to CNN. “California has a long history of rejecting bullying tactics of this kind, and I fully expect the result in this case will be no different.”
The blog post also outlined Google’s plans to pause investments in the California news space, including eliminating Golden State-based publications from its Google News Showcase, which features top articles from across the web to help drive engagement.
In fact, with the tech giant generating as much as 40% of traffic for some publications, according to the Wall Street Journal), that engagement disappearing overnight could be incredibly problematic for those that rely on clicks generated by Google.
And this decision could affect a large list of publications across the state including, but not limited to: Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Jose Mercury-News, California Newswire, Orange County Register, Sacramento Bee, Riverside Press-Enterprise, Fresno Bee, L.A. Daily News, and the East Bay Times.
Link-blocking could also lower visibility for Penske showbiz trade publications including Variety, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.
But it’s unclear how exactly this decision will be implemented, and whether it will impact California-based publications across the board or on a selective basis.
CJPA still needs to pass in the California state senate before it can be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
