Unfriending big tech

Google threatens to leave Australia. Microsoft’s search engine Bing offers to step in. Facebook blocks sharing and posting of news for Australian users. Google and News Corp tie up.

The drama playing out between news publishers, Google/Facebook and the Australian government hit all kinds of high points last week. It could, along with many more skirmishes to come, decide the future of news publishers and their relationships with large tech platforms. It could also decide whether the internet will remain free and open. Though many of the arguments going back and forth between analysts, regulators and platforms have a chicken and