Google’s temporary news blackout made big headlines last week. But it’s the changes that don’t make headlines you should be worried about.
Last week 1% of Australian Google users temporarily had their access to Australian news content blocked. Australian news outlets including Crikey rightly framed this as a threat to their businesses ahead of negotiations over the federal government’s proposed news media bargaining code.
But few have highlighted those directly affected by the temporary erasure: ordinary internet users who were unwittingly made guinea pigs in Google’s “experiment”.
The Australian’s Adam Creighton, who was one of the locked-out users, noted it served as a “chilling” reminder of the tech giants’ “control of all digital information” and their willingness to manipulate our access to it.
