Google rejects plan to make it pay for news in Australia despite law being watered down

Tech giant says proposed code requiring payments to publishers still falls far short' of being workable and wants it further weakened

Google has rejected a bargaining code designed to force it and other tech groups to pay publishers for news they use on their websites, even though it has already been watered down after a fierce lobbying campaign by the search giant.

In a post to Google's official blog, the company's Australian boss, Mel Silva, said the proposed code would fundamentally break how search engines work", complained it would involve giving news publishers special treatment and slammed the final offer" method that is to be used to resolve how much should be paid for news as unfair and unprecedented".