Name? Melanie Silva
Westphalian identity? Australian
Age? mid-forties
Why is he in the news? A few months ago, Australian lawmakers pushed a new media code. The code would force digital giants, such as Google, to pay local media companies for providing their content in search. As the managing director of Google Australia (and New Zealand), Melanie Silva responded to the parliament with full strength: “If this version of the code were to become law it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.”
Why do we care? We always thought Australia was just a lovely paradise where people go to the beach all day long and enjoy BBQs. In reality, Australia is actually picking a fight with Google. Really Australia, first you fight with China, then with Google? Do we sense a bit of a Napoleon Complex here?
Why should you care? A few weeks ago we saw Twitter silence the President of the United States. Whether this was right or wrong we will leave aside for now. But this is now the second example where tech giants are flexing their muscles against politicians. Imagine if Australians cannot Google any longer! How do they read RAIA articles and watch cat videos? This makes a 6/10 on our How much you should care scale.
Who else cares? French President Emmanuel Macron. In France, lawmakers and Google reached an agreement which lets Google negotiate with publishers using criteria the company has established. The Australian code goes beyond this; maybe a reason for Macron to reopen the case?
Any further comments? Since France and other European countries are thinking along similar lines as Australia, it becomes clear why Ms. Silva is reacting the way she is and threatening Australia in the name of Google. For them, intense pushback has become a focal point of their global efforts to limit regulation, as governments around the world look to jump on the bandwagon.
