Google threatens to leave Australia – but its poker face is slipping

Analysis: tech firm's refusal to pay news publishers comes as it agrees to do exactly that in France

The biggest companies in technology love an ultimatum but rarely do they spell out their threats. This week, however, Google has done exactly that, telling an Australian parliamentary hearing that a proposed law forcing the company to pay news publishers for the right to link to their content would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia".

The threat, from the company's Australian managing director, Mel Silva, is the latest escalation in a war of words over the proposal, which seeks to undo some of the damage online business models have dealt to the country's publishing industry.