Rift between Australia and Google deepens

In Australia, a rift between the government and Google has widen over the payment of new content issue. Australia urged Google on Thursday to "focus on paying for original content, not blocking it." Australian news outlets, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg accused it of "blocking" users when it should be paying for the content. "The digital giants should focus on paying for original content, not blocking it," Frydenberg told reporters, referring to Google and social media behemoth Facebook Inc. The companies should "pay traditional news media businesses a fair sum of money for those news media businesses generating original content", he added.

After media reports said Australian news websites were not showing up in searches, Google confirmed it was running unspecified tests in relation to news media, a spokesman said in, adding that the experiments would conclude by early February. If the parties are unable to reach an agreement, a government-appointed arbitrator will decide for them. In a long-running dispute, Google and Facebook have called the rules unfair and suggested they would force them to limit their offerings in the country.