As Google Expands AI Search, India Must Make Big Tech Pay Publishers
The feud between big tech and news publishers now has real consequences for newsrooms across the world. With Google’s new AI Search update, the company announced that its AI agents will scan “blogs, news sites and social posts” to deliver crisp answers and quick summaries directly to users. The question this raises is pointed: what happens when readers stop visiting news sites and simply accept AI-generated answers instead? For news outlets in India and globally, the financial damage could be severe.
AI-powered search is fundamentally altering the traffic dynamics that have sustained digital news publishers — shifting the model from content discovery to direct in-platform consumption. Timesnownews.com spoke with experts to understand how such a move could impact India.
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India’s Existing Laws May Not Be Ready For AI
Prabhu Ram, VP, Industry Research Group, CMR, said, “India’s copyright and IT frameworks, which predate generative AI, provide limited clarity on issues such as large-scale content usage, attribution, and fair compensation, prompting ongoing policy discussions.”
He stressed that the critical question is whether regulatory frameworks can keep pace with AI and evolve quickly enough to prevent market consolidation before policy clarity emerges. “As AI adoption accelerates, the long-term outcome will depend on the ability of policymakers to balance innovation with the sustainability of independent journalism,” added Ram.
While referencing Australia’s proposed measures that push big tech to compensate local news outlets, Shweta Bansal, a technology lawyer, said, “Australia’s NBI is a step in the right direction. India should not replicate it in a hurry. The question is not whether there is a tax on platforms, but what exactly we are taxing them for.”
Bansal highlighted, “There are three very different kinds of value extraction – aggregation, algorithmic amplification and AI training — and any Indian framework has to define ‘use’ with technical precision before defining a price. A poorly written law will either be circumvented in a week or litigated for a decade.”
Independent Journalism Faces A Defining Moment
Australia asked major tech giants like TikTok, Google and Meta to strike deals with local news publishers or face a 2.25 per cent tax on local revenue under its newly proposed News Bargaining Incentive. This move comes as news consumption rapidly shifts to social media, where users depend heavily on their feeds rather than media outlets — deepening concerns around fair compensation. India’s Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) and the Indian Newspaper Society have repeatedly raised the same question: should India follow a similar path?
As AI changes how people find and read news, publishers worldwide face a challenge that strong journalism alone cannot solve. The window for governments to act is narrowing. If news organisations grow too dependent on tech platforms and revenues fall too far, no future payment system will fully repair the damage. What is needed now is a clear, practical law — one that defines how AI companies use news content, ensures publishers are paid fairly, and holds big tech accountable without stifling innovation.
FAQ
How will Google’s new AI Search update impact digital news publishers?
Google’s AI Search update is designed to scan blogs, news sites, and social posts to provide users with crisp summaries directly on the search results page. This shifts the current model from discovering content via links to consuming it directly on the platform. As a result, publishers will see a drastic drop in web traffic, which directly threatens their advertising revenue and overall financial sustainability. If users stop visiting original websites entirely, newsrooms across India and the globe could face massive financial losses.
What is Australia’s News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) and how does it work?
Australia’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) requires major tech companies like Google, Meta, and TikTok to negotiate fair compensation deals with local news publishers. If these tech giants fail to strike an agreement, they will face a 2.25 percent tax on their local revenue. This legislation is explicitly designed to ensure that publishers get paid fairly for the original journalism that tech platforms use to keep users engaged on their social media feeds and search engines.
Why are India’s existing laws considered inadequate for handling generative AI?
According to industry experts, India’s current copyright and IT frameworks were drafted long before the rise of generative AI. Because they are outdated, they do not provide clear guidelines on modern issues like large-scale content scraping, proper attribution, or fair compensation for digital publishers. Policymakers are currently discussing how to update these regulations, but the main concern is whether new laws can be implemented quickly enough to prevent big tech from fully consolidating the market.
According to legal experts, what should India focus on before taxing big tech?
Technology lawyers argue that India shouldn’t just blindly copy Australia’s NBI model. Instead, lawmakers must focus on defining exactly what constitutes the “use” of content with strict technical precision. There are three distinct ways tech companies extract value: basic aggregation, algorithmic amplification, and AI training. A new framework needs to clearly differentiate these practices before assigning a price or tax. If the law is poorly drafted, tech companies will easily bypass it or tie it up in years of litigation.
Can independent journalism survive the AI shift without government intervention?
It is highly unlikely that independent journalism can survive this massive technological shift through strong reporting alone. Experts warn that the window for governments to step in is closing rapidly. If news organizations lose too much revenue and become entirely dependent on tech platforms, no future compensation model will be able to reverse the damage. A clear, practical law is urgently needed to hold big tech accountable and ensure publishers are paid without stifling digital innovation.
