As Google eyes Australia exit, Microsoft talks Bing with PM
Software giant Microsoft Corp is confident its search product Bing can fill the gap found in Australia if Google pulls its search above required payments to media outlets, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said about Monday.
Australia has introduced laws that would force internet giant Google and social media heavyweight Facebook Inc to negotiate payments to domestic media outlets whose content links drive traffic to their platforms.
However, the Big Tech firms have referred to as the laws unworkable and explained last month they would withdraw key services from Australia if the regulations went ahead. Those services contain Google's search engine, which includes 94% of the country's search market, regarding to industry data.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has since spoken with Morrison about the brand new rules, the tech company told Reuters, and about Monday, Morrison said the program company was ready to grow the existence of its search tool Bing, the distant No. 2 player.
"I can let you know, Microsoft's pretty confident, when I spoke to Satya," Morrison told reporters in Canberra, without giving further detail of the conversation.
"We only want the guidelines in the digital world to be the same that exist in real life, in the physical world," Morrison added.
A good Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed the discussion occurred but declined to comment, since the company had not been directly involved in the laws.
"We recognize the importance of a captivating media sector and public interest journalism in a democracy and we recognize the challenges the media sector offers faced over a long time through changing business models and consumer preferences," the spokeswoman said.
Google declined to comment.
A day earlier, Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg possessed requested a gathering over the law, and that they had talked, but that he would not back off on the change.
At a Senate hearing in to the laws, Department of Treasury deputy secretary of markets Meghan Quinn stated the Australian government would have limited ability to intervene if Google's departure hurt businesses which rely on its search function.
"The (media bargaining) code doesn't avoid the wholesale withdrawal of services, and there's difficulty in any of the legislative mechanisms we have for you to definitely (be forced to) give a service," Quinn said.
Source: japantoday.com
