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Google, the search giant that brought in more than $73 billion in profit last year, is protesting<\/a> a California bill that would require it and other platforms to pay media outlets. The company announced that it was beginning a \u201cshort-term test\u201d that will block links to local California news sources for a \u201csmall percentage\u201d of users in the state.<\/p>\n The move is in response to the California Journalism Preservation Act, a bill that would require Google, Meta and other platforms to pay<\/a> California publishers fees in exchange for links. The proposed law, which passed the state Assembly last year, amounts to a \u201clink tax,\u201d according to Google VP of News Partnerships Jaffer Zaidi.<\/p>\n \u201cIf passed, CJPA may result in significant changes to the services we can offer Californians and the traffic we can provide to California publishers,\u201d Zaidi writes. But though the bill has yet to become law, Google is opting to give publishers and users in California a taste of what those changes could look like.<\/p>\n The company says it will temporarily test blocking links to California news sources that would be covered under the law in order \u201cto measure the impact of the legislation on our product experience.\u201d Zaidi didn\u2019t say how large the test would be or how long it would last. Google is also halting new spending on California newsrooms, including \u201cnew partnerships through Google News Showcase, our product and licensing program for news organizations, and planned expansions of the Google News Initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n Google isn\u2019t the first company to use hardball tactics in the face of new laws that aim to force tech companies to pay for journalism. Meta pulled news from Facebook and Instagram in Canada<\/a> after a similar law passed and has threatened<\/a> to do the same in California. (Meta did eventually cut deals to pay publishers in Australia after a 2021 law went into effect, but said last month it would end<\/a> those partnerships.)<\/p>\n Google has a mixed track record on the issue, It pulled its News service out of Spain for seven years<\/a> in protest of local copyright laws that would have required licensing fees. But the company signed deals<\/a> worth about $150 million to pay Australian publishers. It also eventually backed off<\/a> threats to pull news from search results in Canada, and forked over about $74 million. That may sound like a lot, but those amounts are still just a tiny fraction of the $10 – $12 billion that researchers<\/a> estimate Google should be paying publishers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n