Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Microsoft is ready to step in with their Bing search engine if Google carries out its threat to remove its search engine from Australia.
A Google executive told a Senate hearing last month it would likely make its search engine unavailable Down Under if the government goes ahead with a draft law that would make tech companies pay for news content to display their work in its search results.
Google Australia and New Zealand's managing director, Mel Silva, told the hearing the government proposals would give them 'no real choice' but to vacate the search engine Down Under.
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"If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google search available in Australia," she said.
"And that would be a bad outcome not only for us, but also for the Australian people, media diversity, and the small businesses who use our products every day."
Despite the threats, Scott Morrison has since hit back at the tech giants, telling reporters that 'we don't respond to threats'.
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"Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia...That's done in our parliament. It's done by our government. And that's how things work here in Australia," he said.
He added that he had spoken to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella about Bing filling the space.
"I can tell you, Microsoft's pretty confident that Australians would not be worse off," Morrison told the National Press Club of Australia.
"These are big technology companies and what's important to Australia, I think, is that we set the rules that are right for our people.
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"Having a news environment in this country that is one that is sustainable and is supported commercially, then this is vital to how democracies function."
While Bing is Australia's second most popular search engine, it only has a 3.6 per cent market share, according to web analytics service Statcounter, while Google says it has 95 per cent.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has also weighed in with his thoughts, telling the ABC that Microsoft is 'significantly interested' in filling the void if Google exits the Australian market.
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"The Microsoft CEO reached out to the prime minister and proposed a meeting, accompanied by senior executives, I was able to join that meeting, and we had a very informative discussion about Microsoft's interest in the Australian market," he said.
"At the moment they have a small market share in search, but they're interested in expanding that, they're interested in developing the presence of Bing here."
"Look, ultimately, at the end of the day, if you want to do business in Australia, you need to comply with the laws of the sovereign government of Australia."
Featured Image Credit: PA