Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has since talked to PM Scott Morrison about the new rules
Sydney:
Software giant Microsoft Corp is confident that its search product Bing can fill the gap in Australia if Google suspends its search on required payments to the media, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday.
Australia has introduced laws that would force internet giant Google and social media heavyweight Facebook Inc to negotiate payments to home media outlets whose content links drive traffic to their platforms.
However, Big Tech companies considered the laws impractical and said last month that they would withdraw essential services from Australia if the regulations went ahead. These services include Google’s search engine, which holds 94% of the country’s search market, according to industry data.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has since spoken to Morrison about the new rules, the technology company told Reuters, and on Monday, Morrison said the software company was ready to increase the presence of its search engine. Bing, the distant runner-up.
“I can say that Microsoft is very confident when I spoke to Satya,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra, without giving further details about the conversation.
“We just want the rules of the digital world to be the same as those that exist in the real world, in the physical world,” added Morrison.
A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed that the discussion took place, but declined to comment because the company was not directly involved in the laws.
“We recognize the importance of a vibrant media sector and public interest journalism in a democracy and recognize the challenges that the media sector has faced over many years through changing business models and consumer preferences,” said the spokeswoman.
A Google representative was not immediately available for comment.
A day earlier, Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had requested a meeting about the law and that they had talked, but that he would not back down from the move.
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