Accordingly, in July 2024, the New Zealand Government confirmed that it would implement a law to ensure fair revenue sharing between large technology companies and media units. However, this bill is still under review and there are likely to be some changes to make it more suitable.
Caroline Rainsford - Director of Google in New Zealand said: "We will be forced to stop linking to New Zealand news content on Google Search, Google News or Google Discover, and stop existing commercial agreements and ecosystem support agreements with news publishers in New Zealand".
Ms. Rainsford expressed her opinion that if the current bill is passed into law, the technology corporation Google will be forced to significantly change its products and investments. She also stressed that Google in New Zealand contributes millions of dollars a year to nearly 50 local publications.
The technology giant Google fears that the bill will harm small publishers, causing business uncertainty, contrary to the idea of an open Internet.
New Zealand Minister of Communications and Communications - Paul Goldsmith said that the government of this country is currently considering many different viewpoints in the field to make an official decision. "We are still in the consultation stage and will make an announcement at the appropriate time," he said in a statement.
This law is expected to receive enough support from many parties to pass after completion.
Previously, the technology giant Google also applied the above strategy to Australia and Canada as the two countries prepared to issue similar laws.
In 2021, Australia also issued a law giving the government the power to force technology companies Meta and Google to negotiate content provision agreements with media outlets. A review published by the Australian government in 2022 found that the law was largely effective.
Initially, the tech giants stopped providing news to Australian users on their platforms, but in the end, both reached a trade-off, reaching deals worth around 200 million AUD (equivalent to 137 million USD) per year, paying Australian news agencies to use their content.
