Bing Ready to Step In If Google Withdraws from Australia

The Australian government has revealed that Microsoft’s Bing is ready to step in if Google withdraws its search engine from Australia when the latest news code comes into force.

Paul Fletcher, the communications minister, said that despite Google having a 93% share of the search engine market in Australia, other players such as Bing and DuckDuckGo were in talks with the government to pick up the slack.

“Microsoft, a giant American corporation, an information technology powerhouse, is very significantly interested in the market opportunity in Australia, should Google choose to withdraw its presence in search in Australia,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher dismissed Google’s threat, claiming the company “don’t always follow through” and said that the government would not give in.

“What Google and Facebook say they intend to do is really a matter for them,” Fletcher said.

“We made it clear we very much prefer them to stay in Australia, they’re an important, significant part of the ecosystem, but ultimately these are business decisions.

“The Microsoft CEO reached out to the prime minister and proposed a meeting, accompanied by senior executives, I was able to join that meeting, and we had a very informative discussion about Microsoft’s interest in the Australian market. At the moment they have a small market share in search, but they’re interested in expanding that, they’re interested in developing the presence of Bing here.”

Fletcher said that Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was told by the Australian prime minister that he would not “change from the path that we have set out”, as it is founded on “a very thorough public policy process”.

“Look, ultimately, at the end of the day, if you want to do business in Australia, you need to comply with the laws of the sovereign government of Australia.”

Public hearings into the news code heard that funds raised by social media companies should be channeled towards the “newsroom and not the boardroom” of media companies.

The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) warned that it was dangerous not to explicitly state where funds should go.

“It would be a perverse consequence of the years-long digital platforms inquiry and code development process if funds raised via the code were directed to purposes other than sustaining and increasing news content that serves the public interest,” said Adam Portelli, director of the MEAA’s media section.