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Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google will temporarily block California-based news sites for some state residents as the search giant escalates its opposition to a state bill that would force big technology companies to pay publishers.
Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s vice president of global news partnerships, said in a blog post Friday that the company would conduct “a short-term test for a small percentage of California users” to study the possible effects of the California Journalism Preservation Act on its products.
With the blocking of news, the company is again using a strategy that tech giants have adopted in their efforts to undercut bills in countries such as Canada and Australia that require payments for articles that appear on their platforms.
The bill “would create a level of business uncertainty that no company could accept,” Zaidi said. “To avoid an outcome where all parties lose and the California news industry is left worse off, we urge lawmakers to take a different approach.”
The company would halt planned investments in news in the state “until there’s clarity on California’s regulatory environment,” Zaidi said.