Google blocked

 Big Tech is supposed to pay for journalism in California. Google is retaliating.

Google protested a bill that would require them to pay news publishers, therefore it blocked news sites for some Californian web users.SAN FRANCISCO: Governments from all over the world have been at odds with Google and Meta for years about whether or not the Big Tech companies should foot the bill for the news articles and videos that appear on social media and in search results. The United States is now the battleground, where they are at home.Legislators in California are pushing a law that would compel Google and Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, to compensate news publishers for each time their stories are excerpted or linked to in search results or on social media. The firms are fiercely advocating against it, claiming that it will implement a "link tax" and disrupt the unrestricted exchange of information on the internet.

Google is now going so far as to fully prevent news links for news organizations based in California from appearing in search results for some Californians, as part of its pushback. In a blog post announcing the change earlier this month, Google referred to the action as a "short-term test" but wouldn't disclose the number of users it is limiting news for.The tech companies contend that charging for the right to post links and excerpts of publicly available news articles goes against the spirit of an open and free internet and exposes them to endless legal challenges from non-journalistic groups seeking similar arrangements. Proponents of the laws contend that these measures are a just means of preserving journalism.