I appreciate the fact many Legal Insurrection fans have schedenfreude whenever I cover the inanity occurring within my current home state of California.

There has been in interesting development, in terms of the news media in this state, which may offer some additional entertainment. Google is removing links to California news websites due to proposed state legislation that will require tech firms to pay news outlets for their content.

The legislation has a hilarious title: California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA).

Google said Friday it would remove links to California news sites from its search results for some of its users, as it pushes back against a pending bill that would require the Silicon Valley technology company to pay publishers.

The online search giant said the bill, called the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), would upend its business model. The bill, if signed into law, would require companies including Google to fork over a “journalism usage fee” when they sell ads next to news content.

“We have long said that this is the wrong approach to supporting journalism,” Jaffer Zaidi, vice president of Google’s Global News Partnerships, wrote in a blog post Friday. “If passed, CJPA may result in significant changes to the services we can offer Californians and the traffic we can provide to California publishers.”

Google also said it is “pausing further investments in the California news ecosystem.”

California legislators are deeply unhappy with Google’s countermove against their rule-making.

On Friday evening, California State Senate President Pro-Tempore Mike McGuire, a co-author of the bill, called the move an act of “bullying” and an “abuse of power.”

“This is a dangerous threat by Google that not only sets a terrible precedent here in America, but puts public safety at risk for Californians who depend on the news to keep us informed of life-threatening emergencies and local public safety incidents,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This is a breach of public trust and we call on Google Executives to answer for this stunt.”

Media officials accuse Google of “threatening democracy” by taking this action.

Danielle Coffey, president of the News/Media Alliance, a sponsor of AB 886, called the announcement a “power move” by Google to try and sway the government and said that the act makes it all the more important for the bill to become law. “Google removing news is undemocratic and antithetical to open access to information,” she said. Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association, another bill sponsor, said in a statement that “Google’s suppression today of California news demonstrates exactly why the California Legislature needs to pass legislation to rein in the tech colossus.” Champion accused Google of leveraging its monopoly power “to brazenly undermine our democracy.”

“Google removing news is undemocratic and antithetical to open access to information,” she said.

Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association, another bill sponsor, said in a statement that “Google’s suppression today of California news demonstrates exactly why the California Legislature needs to pass legislation to rein in the tech colossus.”

Champion accused Google of leveraging its monopoly power “to brazenly undermine our democracy.”

If media organizations were really interested in preserving journalism, they would make more of an effort on presenting facts, figures, and accurate information to the public rather than the latest woke narrative.

Neither California or its news media are getting any sympathy from potential customers.

😂😂 California is on a complete self destruct right now. The minimum wage bill, now this..

— Kaviteus The Red ⚠️ (@NotaFundi) April 14, 2024

That’s what California does… try to scrape money from every company, small business, or individual to pay for ridiculous entitlement programs and excessive regulation enforcement. Soon all the money will leave California, and it will be called North Venezuela.

— Jason Weeks (@ChipperJack71) April 13, 2024

Good. Let those publishers lose the reach that google provided them. California now cost them views and they went backwards as a result. Almost every California policy is a failure.

— The Analog Kid (@Analog_Kid_2112) April 13, 2024

I also foresee a time coming to pass when news analysis sites, such as Legal Insurrection, become even more important in the exchange of news and information as a result. This would be another unintended consequence of California political polices…but one of the rare good ones.

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