robots.txt exists, Google respects it
> A robots.txt file [...] is not a mechanism for keeping a web page out of Google.
> You should not use robots.txt as a means to hide your web pages from Google Search results.
> If your web page is blocked with a robots.txt file, it can still appear in search results
[1] https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/robots/in...
The law as written is extremely draconic because it will force Google to link to these orgs(providing value) and then also pay them(providing value). It explicitly forbids Google from delisting them
The general point make by the post you responding is perfectly correct: Google provides many ways for a web site to stop their content from being indexed. That includes all the newspaper sites. And they very explicitly don't use it. This is www.news.com.au's robots.txt:
https://www.news.com.au/robots.txt
Notice how they ban some spider called "NewsNow". But the don't ban Google.
I'm not saying google is a saint, or even evil but this legislation is just plain wrong. Google have provided an optional free service to the media, and its now pretty much an essential service to them. Another poster said they get 70% of their traffic redirected from google.
The Australian government is playing clear favorites here. They are penalizing a successful company, and rewarding a bunch of other companies that are struggling - Even though their problems are not related to google's success.
And its even more blatant what the game is when you see that the legislation specifically prevents google from paying SBS or ABC - The two highly respected and popular government-funded media networks. The current conservatives government has been cutting their funding and generally trying to kill them for many years.
