Google Escalates Dispute With Australia by Threatening Search Shutdown

SYDNEY—Google threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia if a proposed law requiring tech giants to pay publishers for news isn’t changed.

The Australian code would require binding arbitration if publishers and the tech companies can’t reach a deal on compensation.

Mel Silva, Google Australia’s managing director, told a parliamentary committee Friday that under the so-called news-media bargaining code, Google would have to pay publishers for links to news articles that appear in search results.