Thread by @FloRoberts93

Everyone seems to be missing the big picture with the news media bargaining code.

There’s a whole bunch of issues that will result from it going ahead, or from Google pulling out in Australia.

Firstly, there’s the issue of supporting Murdoch, and deepening his grip on the opinions of Australians.

Science denial, bigotry, division. Murdoch’s core products.

We don’t want them.

Then there’s the issue of whether the news media companies deserve more compensation for their content.

The derive substantial revenue from the traffic Google refers to their websites.

But they want Google to pay *them* for that?

It’s also important to note that neither Google nor FB derive any substantial amount of their revenue from display Australian news media in their search results or on your feeds.

The NMBC will make it *cost* Google more than they make from the news.

Then there’s the issue of the algorithm.

Not only do the media companies want to be paid. They want to know about the inner workings of Google’s algorithm, so they can ensure their content always shows first.

They want to know changes to the algorithm before they happen.

This isn’t information Google shares with any business.

As someone who works in search engine optimisation, I have a pretty good understanding of what the algorithm looks for. But that’s from years of trial and error, research, and constantly learning when it changes.

The reason the algorithm is so secretive, is so people can’t play the system.

But these media companies are demanding access to play the system.

Not only is this dangerous for users (by limiting what news they’ll see) it’s dangerous for our democracy.

See, the ACCC gets to decide who is a news media organisation and gets the access to the trade secrets.

The ACCC is an ‘independent’ organisation that rely on our federal budget for their funding.

If the government wants to exert influence over the ACCC, they will.

And this is all just if this goes ahead. If it doesn’t, and Google stops Australians from accessing their search products. We have a whole other set of issues.

See, Google has a virtual monopoly on search in Australia. No, that’s not ideal.

Because of this monopoly, many small and medium businesses rely on Google paid and organic search as cost-effective ways to acquire new customers.

They’ve invested decades of time and money into getting their website to rank, setting up ads that bring customers.

Google and Facebook are both really affordable ways for small businesses to advertise.

Big news media companies are not.

Not only will these businesses lose the investment they’ve made into search engine optimisation over the years, they’ll lose their advertising platforms.

These are this small home businesses, run by mums, dads, sisters, average Australians everywhere that have worked hard to build their businesses.

Google leaving is going to disrupt, and probably destroy, a large number of these businesses.

Google leaving is also going to impact a huge number of less technology literate Australians that don’t know what other search engines to use, or how to use them.

See, Google made their products incredibly user friendly.

They made it really easy to look up help for homework, study, scientific research, how to get somewhere, where to go, what a word means.

Sure, someone will eventually fill the market gap. But what happens until then?

The NMBC has far-reaching implications and isn’t just some way to make sure journalists are getting paid for their work.

And don’t get me wrong, journalists deserve fair compensation for their content.

But that’s not at all what this is about.

This is about the government intervening in the free press.

This is about unreasonable demands from media companies that didn’t adapt to new media platforms.

It’s about Australians being able to access information and a variety of news media sources.

Don’t let the media companies that are going to benefit from this tell you they’re just making it fair.

It’s not at all fair.