Microsoft Backs Australian Plan to Make Google Pay for News

Microsoft Backs Australian Plan to Make Google Pay for News
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at Microsoft Corp.'s annual shareholders meeting in Bellevue, Wash., on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The annual meeting was Nadella's first as head of Microsoft. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
The Associated Press
Updated:

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Microsoft said on Feb. 3 it supports Australia’s plans to make the biggest digital platforms pay for news and would help small businesses transfer their advertising to Bing if Google quits the country.

Microsoft has been positioning itself to increase market share for its search engine, Bing after a Google executive told a Senate hearing last month that it would likely make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the government goes ahead with a draft law that would make tech giants pay for news content.