Pay Up
Microsoft is advocating that the US follow Australia’s lead and copy a proposal that would require tech companies to pay newspapers for using their content. It’s also suggested, unsurprisingly, that its very own Bing search engine could be a viable alternative to replace Google in the country. Google is far and away the dominant search engine in Australia. Google has threatened to yank its search engine from down under if the proposal is passed into law, claiming that it would set an “unmanageable precedent,” The Wall Street Journal reports. Facebook has also balked, warning that it would bar Australian users from sharing links to news articles on its platforms. Both Google and Facebook have said they are willing to invest in local publishers as one way to negotiate fair compensation. They also argue that publishers benefit by having links to their content appear in search results and on social media because it sends users directly to their sites. Google s chief legal