Murdoch's News Corp calls for Google breakup of corrupt web giant!
News organisations accuse tech giants such as Google and Facebook of
gaining huge commercial benefit from expensive to create content, while
paying nothing and syphoning off advertising
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has called for Google to be broken up in
Australia, the latest salvo in a battle between the corporate media
giants.
In a petition to Australian regulators, News Corp's local subsidiary
complained that "Google enjoys overwhelming market power in both online
search and ad tech services."
Going a step further, the company accused Google of "abusing its dominant
position to the detriment of consumers, advertisers and publishers."
Earlier this week US presidential hopeful—and former federal consumer
watchdog—Elizabeth Warren became the latest in a line of commentators to
argue that firms such as Amazon, Google and Facebook hold " too much
power" in society.
News Corp echoed her argument that Google's businesses should be split, or
failing that, search and advertising businesses should be firewalled off
from each other.
"While News Corp Australia recognises that divestment is a very serious
step ... divestment is necessary in the case of Google, due to the
unparalleled power that it currently exerts over news publishers and
advertisers alike."
Australian watchdogs are seen as unlikely to recommend that Google be
split, but the petition represents an intensification of the worldwide
fight between Australian-born Murdoch and Google and Facebook.
News organisations accuse the tech giants of gaining huge commercial
benefit from expensive to create content, while paying nothing and
syphoning off advertising.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is one of several
regulators across the world investigating the effect that digital
platforms have on competition in the media, advertising and advertising
services markets.
News organisations in Australia have struggled in recent years with
falling revenue and shrinking staff, as giants like Google and Facebook
dominate the digital economy.
The downturn has prompted a string of mergers that have left the market
with only three or four major media companies.
Local newspapers, once the lifeblood of communities across this vast
country, run on a skeletal staff or have been forced to close.
Among them Murdoch's News Corp is a dominant player, owning a slew of
newspapers, television channels and the country's only major cable
television network.
Murdoch's vast political influence has frequently come underfire from
former prime ministers on both sides of Australian politics and is widely
seen as pushing the tone of public debate to the right.
News Corp Australia is a subsidiary of News Corp, which owns 21st Century
Fox, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and a raft of papers and TV
platforms in Britain.
Explore further: Australia watchdog tips tough rules to curb power of
Google, Facebook
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2019-03-murdoch-news-corp-google-breakup.html#jCp