What you need to know
- Microsoft's president has spoken out against Google over its news content practices.
- Google has criticized its rival over its support for recent legislation around news content.
- Google has posted a webpage proclaiming its support for news publications.
Google has facing heat over its stance on supporting news content providers, particularly in Australia and the EU. Following the advent of new legislation giving more negotiating power to local news publications in Australia, Google threatened to pull its search engine out of the country, claiming that the new law was detrimental to its business. Eventually, a deal was reached between them that allows Google to avoid the new law, a situation that has not gone unnoticed by rival Microsoft, which called Google out in recent antitrust testimony.
Microsoft President, Brad Smith, who has openly supported Australia's new legislation, recently criticized Google over its monopolistic practices (via Axios):
News organizations have ad inventory to sell, but they can no longer sell directly to those who want to place ads. Instead, for all practical purposes they must use Google's tools, operate on Google's ad exchanges, contribute data to Google's operations, and pay Google money.
It's worth noting that Microsoft will have to abide by the same laws imposed on Big Tech like Google and Facebook.
Google also issued its own criticism at Microsoft, saying that the company would "be eager to impose an unworkable levy on a rival and increase their market share." Meanwhile, the company attempted to save face by launching its News Showcase in Australia, which curates news content from local sources into one place that can be accessed through the Google News app on the best cheap Android phones. It also published a webpage in a seemingly desperate attempt to highlight how it supports journalism.
Meanwhile, Google will soon have to put up with new legislation in the United States, which has been introduced in the wake of Australia's new law.
