Accordingly, in July 2024, the New Zealand Government confirmed that it would proceed with a law to ensure fair revenue sharing between large technology companies and news media units. However, this bill is still under review and there are likely to be some changes to make it more suitable.
"We will be forced to stop linking to New Zealand news content on Google Search, Google News or Google Discover, and to end our current commercial and ecosystem support agreements with New Zealand news publishers," said Caroline Rainsford, Google's New Zealand director.
Ms Rainsford said that if the current bill were to become law, Google would be forced to make significant changes to its products and investments, and noted that Google in New Zealand contributes “millions of dollars a year to nearly 50 local publications”.
Tech giant Google is concerned that the bill will harm small publishers, cause business instability, and contradict the idea of an open Internet.
New Zealand's Minister for Communications and Media Paul Goldsmith said the government is considering a range of views in the sector before making a final decision. "We are still in the consultation phase and will make an announcement at the appropriate time," he said in a statement.
The law is expected to gain enough cross-party support to pass once finalized.
Previously, technology giant Google also applied the above strategy to Australia and Canada when these two countries were preparing to enact similar laws.
In 2021, Australia also passed legislation that gave the government the power to force tech companies Meta and Google to negotiate content deals with media outlets. A review published by the Australian government in 2022 found the law to be largely effective.
The tech giants initially stopped providing news to Australian users on their platforms, but both eventually compromised, reaching deals worth about $200 million (US$137 million) a year to pay Australian news outlets for their content.
