Can you imagine the internet without Google? Well, that may happen soon with a law that requires Google to pay for content from news sites. As a result, Google to pull its service from Australian can become a reality. What does this mean for us, and how will it affect businesses? Let’s find out.

Google To Pull Its Services From Australia- Why The Threat?

In 2020, the Australian Government announced that they are in the process of passing a law that will make tech giants, Google and Facebook pay for local news site content. If Google and the local publisher do not come up with the deal, an arbitrator appointed by the Government will determine the price. 

Google is not happy with this code and considers this “unworkable”. “If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia” – Mel Silva, Google Regional Director.

In turn, Prime Minister Scott Morrison commented on the threat by expressing how firm the Government is with its laws. 

“Let me be clear, Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our Parliament. It’s done by our Government, and that’s how things work here in Australia, and people who want to work with that, in Australia, you’re very welcome. But we don’t respond to threats.”

Google To Pull Its Services From Australia: What To Expect

When you open the Google homepage, it will take you to a landing page instead of the search page. Google Search alone holds 90-95% of the market share in Australia—and this is just SEARCH. 

Google also has YouTubeGmailGoogle Maps, and Google Drive. Australians and most people worldwide also use these platforms, which will impact the Artificial Intelligence (AI) used in Google Search.

Can This Really Happen?

Google has faced similar situations across the globe, so Google to pull its services from Australia is not impossible. To cite examples, the tech giant pulled out its news services from Spain in 2014. In Germany, the local news had to make its snippets free of charge. Otherwise, they would lose from the competition. The same threat has also been expressed in France until the Government ruled it out. Google search also has not been available in China for the past 11 years.

What it Means for Businesses

Google makes around $4.3Billion a year from Australia’s digital advertising market, which shows how massively popular a choice Google Advertising is for businesses. 

Google to pull its services from Australia, means losing the opportunity to advertise on Google Search and YouTube, among many other platforms. Businesses have to resort to other search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo and alternative advertising avenues.

What it Means for Puzzle Media

We don’t have a crystal ball to tell you whether Google will or will not leave Australia BUT just in case…. we are considering all possibilities and preparing. 

We’ve already had meetings with our advertising and SEO teams and begun working with Bing and DuckDuckGo as alternatives platforms. It will require some testing, which we’re currently running. If you’d like to discuss further how it will impact your business, please feel free to get in touch with us, and we’ll be happy to assist you.