CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he had a constructive meeting with the head of Google after the tech giant threatened to remove its search engine from Australia over plans to make digital platforms pay for news. Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google, initiated the online meeting with Morrison to discuss the draft laws. A Google executive told a Senate hearing last month that the company would likely make its search engine unavailable in Australia if Google and Facebook were forced to pay for Australian news. Google did not comment on the meeting. Morrison also welcomed the support of Google rival Microsoft, which has touted Australia’s proposed laws as an example for the rest of the world.
