Microsoft vs. Google: The tech titans have been locked in a tense battle for the past several weeks over how online platforms such as Google and Facebook distribute content from news media organizations. The issue revolves around how and if tech companies should pay local publishers and broadcasters for content included in search results or news feeds.
The latest: Microsoft President Brad Smith spoke at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Friday. He voiced support for the Journalism Competition and Protection Act (JCPA), which would give news organizations the ability to negotiate collectively with tech companies. The bill has bipartisan support.
Microsoft also published Smith’s written testimony that cited the news industry’s decline and how “the problems that beset journalism today are caused in part by a fundamental lack of competition in the search and ad tech markets that are controlled by Google.” He acknowledges that Google provides referral traffic but notes that “monetizing that traffic has become increasingly difficult for news organizations because most of the profit has been squeezed out by Google.”
The company asks Congress to consider new rules to increase competition in search and ad tech markets, and incorporate elements of Australia’s recently-passed news media law, which had sparked the initial back-and-forth between Microsoft and Google.
Thank you @davidcicilline & @RepKenBuck for the opportunity to address tech & its impact on the free press. It’s not about picking winners and losers – it’s about finding new solutions to restore the healthy journalism on which our democracy depends. https://t.co/Zju9DZ7nEV
— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) March 12, 2021
Google’s take: Google published its own blog post Friday just before the subcommittee hearing titled “Our ongoing commitment to supporting journalism.” Kent Walker, senior vice president of global affairs, wrote that Microsoft is “making self-serving claims and are even willing to break the way the open web works in an effort to undercut a rival.” He said this is part of Microsoft’s attempt at distracting from the company’s ongoing security dilemmas, and said Microsoft has paid out a “much smaller amount to the news industry than we have.”
“We respect Microsoft’s success and we compete hard with them in cloud computing, search, productivity apps, video conferencing, email and many other areas,” Walker wrote. “Unfortunately, as competition in these areas intensifies, they are reverting to their familiar playbook of attacking rivals and lobbying for regulations that benefit their own interests.”
Walker also noted that Microsoft was “dusting off the old diversionary Scroogled playbook,” alluding to a previous anti-Google attack by Microsoft over search engines, email, and online shopping.
The timing of Microsoft’s sudden interest here is no coincidence. Read more here: https://t.co/4jlyzFMm0G
— Google Public Policy (@googlepubpolicy) March 12, 2021
Antitrust scrutiny: This is the latest issue taken up on Capitol Hill over the power of tech giants. The U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust complaint against Google in October, alleging that Google uses its dominant position to its unfair advantage as a “monopoly gatekeeper for the internet. The complaint draws parallels to the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft more than two decades ago; in fact, they are referenced explicitly in the complaint. In an interesting twist, Google cited modern-day Microsoft as one of its defenses, calling out how the company’s Edge browser is preloaded on Windows devices.
See Friday’s full subcommittee hearing below:
