SYDNEY: Australia urged Google on Thursday to “focus on paying for original content, not blocking it” after the Internet giant said it was running tests that limit access to domestic news content, deepening a rift between the tech giant and the government.
After the Alphabet Inc. owned search engine provider said it was conducting experiments to determine the value of its service to Australian news outlets, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg accused it of “blocking” users when it should be paying for the content.
“The digital giants should focus on paying for original content, not blocking it,” Frydenberg told reporters, referring to Google and social media behemoth Facebook.
The companies should “pay traditional news media businesses a fair sum of money for those news media businesses generating original content,” he added.
The spat shows the strong resistance by the so-called Big Tech firms to laws which will force them to negotiate with Australian news outlets over payment for the content which appears on their platforms.
If the parties are unable to reach an agreement, a government-appointed arbitrator will decide for them. In a long-running dispute, Google and Facebook have called the rules unfair and suggested they would force them to limit their offerings in the country.
After media reports said Australian news websites were not showing up in searches, Google confirmed it was running unspecified tests in relation to news media.
“We’re currently running a few experiments that will each reach about 1 percent of Google Search users in Australia to measure the impacts of news businesses and Google Search on each other,” a spokesman said in an email, adding that the experiments would conclude by early February.
Australia calls out Google for ‘experiment’ blocking some news sites
https://arab.news/vg2da
Australia calls out Google for ‘experiment’ blocking some news sites
- ‘The digital giants should focus on paying for original content, not blocking it’
Israel arrests 2 Turkish CNN journalists over live broadcast outside IDF HQ
- Police said reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility
- Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites
LONDON: Israeli police have arrested two Turkish CNN journalists who were broadcasting live outside the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Police said the pair were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility, according to the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit.
Reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman, from the network’s Turkish-language channel, had been reporting near the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters on Tuesday after Iran launched another missile barrage at Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel.
During the live broadcast, two men believed to be soldiers approached the crew and seized the reporter’s phone, according to initial reports and a video circulating online that could not be independently verified.
Police said officers were dispatched after receiving reports of two people carrying cameras and allegedly broadcasting in real time for a foreign outlet.
עיתונאים של CNN טורקיה נעצרו לאחר שצילמו את בסיס הקרייה@NoamIhmels pic.twitter.com/t8a5P9yXfw
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) March 3, 2026
Israel’s long-standing military censorship system, overseen by the IDF Military Censor, has long barred journalists and civilians from publishing material deemed harmful to national security.
Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites.
After a series of similar incidents involving foreign media — most of them Palestinian citizens of Israel working for Arab-language and international media, along with foreign journalists — during the 12-Day War, Israeli police halted live international broadcasts from missile impact sites, citing concerns that exact locations were being revealed.
The Government Press Office later imposed a blanket ban on live coverage from crash and impact areas.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir subsequently ordered that all foreign journalists obtain prior written approval from the military censor before broadcasting — live or recorded — from combat zones or missile strike locations.
Police said that when officers asked the CNN Turk crew to identify themselves, they presented expired press cards and were taken in for questioning.
Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications, condemned the arrests as an attack on the press and said Ankara is working to secure the journalists’ release.
