Threat

A company shouldn’t issue a threat lightly. It draws a public line which cannot be crossed without jeopardizing the business’ credibility if it doesn’t act. That is why this threat has implications for the EU. If the Union imposes a link tax on Google news, the company says it might shut down the service to member countries. This in turn will diminish the reach of news reporting to internet users and publishers. There is good reason for Google to worry. The EU has been particularly strong in regulating internet companies, and there is no hint of them pulling back anytime soon.  There is a question of who would get hurt the most if Google ends the service — Google or the EU? One could argue the issue either way. The company would save money. It does not sell its news service. On the other hand, it would lose millions of clicks a day. EU news readers would lose a convenient central source to update themselves. Google has acted once already. It cut off Spain after that country imposed a link tax.  Now time will tell if the rest of the EU goes dark.