Google Some Californians will begin removing links to California news websites from search results in response to a bill that would have required online advertising companies to pay fees to link state residents to news sources. Must do.

I A blog post In announcing the “short-term test” on Friday, Jafar Zaidi, Google’s vice president of global news partnerships, said the bill, known as the California Journalism Preservation Act, represented “the wrong approach to supporting journalism.” does and “will create a level of business uncertainty that no company can accept.”

The bill was introduced last year and is pending in the state legislature.

Google’s announcement marks the latest dramatic shift in how major Internet platforms handle news. Facebook parents Meta is pulling back from the news business, and said in September that it would “deprecate” its Facebook News tab in European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, “to focus our investment on our products and services for people.” As part of an ongoing effort to better align. Appreciate the most.”

Also last year, Meta banned Canadian users from sharing news on its apps after Canada’s federal government passed the Online News Act, which requires tech companies to pay content fees to domestic media outlets. forced to

The recent developments have upset many online publishers who count on Facebook and Google for traffic and are particularly painful for publications that rely on advertising revenue.

“If passed, CJPA could result in significant changes to the services we can offer Californians and the traffic we can deliver to California publishers,” Zaidi wrote. wrote

Google also said Friday that it is “making further investments in California’s news ecosystem, including new partnerships through the Google News Showcase, licensing programs for our product and news organizations, and plans for the Google News Initiative.” closed extension.”

Supporters of the California bill It is said that this will help news publishers. Like getting a substantial share of the ad profits earned by tech juggernauts. apple, Google and Meta. But some critics of the journalism industry worry that the bill will foster a compensation ecosystem that favors larger, more well-resourced newsrooms over their smaller counterparts.

Google has previously opposed similar media-paying initiatives overseas. Spain, Australia, Canada And New Zealand. But the company has finally accepted the rules.

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