Google Removes Links to Some California News Sites to Protest Fee Proposal

Google has begun removing California news websites from search results for some users in response to a state proposal that would require the search giant to pay media companies for linking to their content. The tech giant announced the move in a blog post on Friday, calling it a “short-term test for a small percentage of users … to measure the impact of the legislation on our product experience.” Google said it would also pause new investments in the California news industry, including its partnership initiative with news outlets and its product licensing program. The move comes in response to the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), a bill that would require tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft to pay a certain percentage of advertising revenue to media companies for linking to their content. A panel of three judges would decide how much the companies would have to pay through an arbitration process....