California Reaches Deal With Google Over Journalism Legislation

Alphabet’s Google has reached an agreement with lawmakers in California, after a high profile clash over funding for newsrooms and journalists in the US state.

Californian lawmakers announced on Wednesday “the establishment of a first-in-the-nation partnership with the State, news publishers, major tech companies and philanthropy, unveiling a pair of multi-year initiatives to provide ongoing financial support to newsrooms across California and launch a National AI Accelerator.”

The agreement with Google comes after the search engine giant in April 2024 had begun removing California news websites from some search results, as a consequences of the pending legislation known as Assembly Bill 886, or the California Journalism Preservation Act or CJPA.

Californian clash

Last year the Californian state government had introduced the California Journalism Preservation Act, which would require social media platforms such as Google and Meta, to pay a monthly “journalism usage fee” for work appears on their services.

The fee would be determined via an arbitration process decided by a panel of three judges – based on the social media platform’s monthly ad revenue.

The bill passed the Assembly in July 2023, but Meta Platforms had warned California officials it may withdraw news altogether in its home state.

Google in April 2024 warned the California Journalism Preservation Act was putting support of the news ecosystem at risk, calling it a “link tax” that would require Google to pay for simply connecting Californians to news articles.

Google said at the time that until there was clarity on California’s regulatory environment, it was also pausing further investments in the California news ecosystem, including new partnerships through Google News Showcase, its product and licensing program for news organisations, and planned expansions of the Google News Initiative.

Google’s actions were not new, as it and Meta had carried out similar moves in Australia and more recently in Canada.

Californian agreement

Now it has emerged that Google will “provide nearly $250 million in public and private funding over the next five years, with the majority of funding going to newsrooms.”

The monies will also launch an artificial intelligence “accelerator” designed to support journalists’ work.

“This agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California – leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.

“The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy,” said Newsom.

“A vibrant press is crucial for strong communities and a healthy democracy,” added California News Publishers Association CEO Chuck Champion and Board Chair Julie Makinen. “This is a first step toward what we hope will become a comprehensive program to sustain local news in the long term, and we will push to see it grow in future years.”

But not everyone is happy and the agreement was heavily criticised by unions representing the state’s journalists.

“The future of journalism should not be decided in backroom deals,” the Media Guild of the West, The NewsGuild-CWA and others said in a joint statement. “The Legislature embarked on an effort to regulate monopolies and failed terribly. Now we question whether the state has done more harm than good. California’s journalists and news workers OPPOSE this disastrous deal with Google and condemn the news executives who consented to it in our names.”