Internet giant Google has threatened to stop linking to French media sites to protest against a proposed French law that would force search engines to pay for content, sparking an angry reaction from the Socialist government in return. Internet giant Google has warned it would exclude French media sites from its search results if France adopts a law forcing search engines to pay for content, in the latest confrontation with European governments.

A letter sent by Google to several French ministerial offices this month said it “cannot accept” such a move and the company “as a consequence would be required to no longer reference French sites,” according to a copy obtained by AFP.

The French new Socialist government, which is open to helping struggling media companies, warned Google that it should not threaten democratic governments. Google said a law which would require it to make payments to media sites for displaying links to their content, would “threaten Googles very existence”.

It also noted that Google “redirects four billion clicks per month towards the Internet pages” of French media. However, the media have had difficulty benefitting from the Google traffic, as online readers resist paying for access when so much content is free on the Internet.  Newspapers around the world have seen their bottom line come under pressure, as their print advertising revenues slide with more people reading news online.

Google takes in tens of billions of dollars annually as companies seek to advertise their wares as Internet users search for content.  Leading French newspaper publishers last month called on the government to adopt a law imposing a settlement in the long-running dispute with Google, forcing it and other search engines to share some of the advertising revenue from user searches for news contained on media websites.  Their demand follows the German government approval in August of draft legislation that would force search engines to pay commissions to German media websites.

via Google threatens to stop linking to French media sites – INTERNET – FRANCE 24.