Google reneges on deals with small publishers
International tech giant Google has walked back its commitment to pay a number of small Australian publishers ahead of the deal’s intended end date in 2027.
Google struck the deal back in 2022 with the Public Interest Publishers Alliance (PIPA), agreeing to pay millions of dollars to the publications over a five-year period. The move was one of the deals struck by Australian publishers with Google and Meta to avoid the federal government “designating” them under the News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC), which would have forced them to negotiate commercial deals.
(Midjourney)
PIPA is an association of 24 small publishers that were granted permission by regulator the ACCC to collectively bargain with the digital giants.
Expectedly, they’re pulling the plug on the life support. Can’t say the writing wasn’t on the wall already for many small-to-medium publications.
Sad, but not surprising.
Even if they went public, I doubt Google would care.