• by Ray Schultz , May 21, 2024

Google’s threat to halt funding of its Google News Initiative in California may be extended to the entire U.S., Axios writes.

The search giant made that initial warning in response to the California Journalism Protection Act (CJPA), a bill that would require media giants to pay publishers for linking to their content.

However, another bill sponsored by State Sen. Steve Glazer that would tax Google and Meta for digital ad transactions could threaten Google’s news grants nationwide, Axios reports. 

In April, Google started blocking links to news sites for some California users. 

At that time, Jaffer Zaidi, VP, global news partnerships for Google, said, “Until there’s clarity on California’s regulatory environment, we’re also pausing further investments in the California news ecosystem, including new partnerships through Google News Showcase, our product and licensing program for news organizations, and planned expansions of the Google News Initiative.”