If Google leaves Australia over plans to compel digital giants to pay news organisations for content, Microsoft has a Plan B available, reports AFP, quoting local media on Monday.

Facebook and Google have threatened to block their key services in Australia as the nation’s government has said that the social media platforms will have to pay for hosting news stories, a mandatory news media bargaining code, to compensate local publishers.

Last week, the managing director of Google Australia, Mel Silva, told a parliamentary inquiry that the company would withdraw its Search function from the nation if the proposed code becomes law. 

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Withing days after this, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, told Australian PM Scott Morrison that Microsoft’s Bing search engine could expand if Google leaves, reported The Australian.

Nadella, reportedly, last week told Morrison, that Microsoft has a “Plan B available.” The Australian government is in detailed discussion with “players across the industry,” Treasurer Josh Frydenbarg said, confirming the call between the duo.

Meanwhile, a Microsoft spokesperson said that the company would not want to comment on the “ongoing process” over the current controversy over a potential law governing Google and Facebook. 

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Australia has reserved the right to impose the code on other platforms as it’s unclear whether Microsoft’s MSN service that links to local news stories could be affected by it. 

If passed, the law would require Google and Facebook to strike commercial agreements with news organisations or enter mandatory arbitration over the size of payments if they fail to agree, reports AFP.

Meanwhile, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also talked to Frydenberg last week to discuss the code, after which the treasurer told ABC it was a “very constructive discussion” but “Zuckerberg didn’t convince me to back down”.

Facebook has too warned it would Australian users from sharing local news stories on its platform. 

Frydenberg said, reports AFP, “I don’t dismiss the threats but I’m not intimidated by them either.”