Microsoft is willing to fill the void as Google leaves Australia

Microsoft said that it supports the plan of Australia for the largest digital platforms to pay for news content. Should competing giant Google decide not to continue operating a search engine in Australia, Microsoft has committed to helping small businesses advertise on Bing's own search engine. A Google executive told an Australian Senate last month that if the government passed a bill requiring technology giants to pay for news content, Google search is unlikely to be available in Australia anymore. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison responded by saying that the vacancy could be filled by Microsoft. Bing is the second most popular search engine in the Australian market. However, according to the web analytics service Statcounter, it has only a 3.6 percent market share. On the contrary, according to its own data, Google occupies up to 95 percent. Morrisson recently spoke with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadell that a possible vacancy could be taken by Bing. "I can confirm that Microsoft was quite convincing. The Australians would definitely not be offended, "said Morrison.