Google is threatening to pull its investment in nonprofit newsrooms if a new bill passes in California.
Google opposes the new bill, Senate Bill 1327, because it would tax big tech companies for data extraction transactions.
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The backstory: Last month Google already came out saying it will not invest further in California news outlets, including its Google News Showcase and expanding its $300 million Google News Initiative program.
- That’s because of a bill introduced by Asm. Buffy Wicks (D–Oakland) last year, which would implement a tax to big tech companies for links to new stories. That tax would then go to fund media companies.
- In response to Wicks’ bill – the California Journalism Preservation Act – Google began removing news sites from search results in California.
The big picture: SB 1327 was introduced by Sen. Steve Glazer (D–Orinda) in February and would tax digital ad transactions for big tech companies.
- Eligible nonprofit newsrooms would receive tax credits to hire more journalists through the tax revenue.
- Axios reported Tuesday that while Google only threatened to pull news investments in California, Google is saying that the bill threatens new grants nationwide by the Google News Initiative.
- However, any news outlets already receiving funding through the program should be secure, according to Axios.
