> It inevitably favours the big news providers that can negotiate directly with Google,
That is a feature, not a bug.
> It very much feels like taking from one big company to prop up other big companies... Who benefits again?
The big news companies, who tend to support the political status quo. The parties big enough to get into government are very cosy with them (not in Australia in particular, in most places).
> and the laws even stop tech companies from just removing the news companies from their search results as well.
Does that apply to all search engines? In that case it creates a barrier to entry by by making it harder for smaller competitors to emerge, so it favours Google.
That is a feature, not a bug.
> It very much feels like taking from one big company to prop up other big companies... Who benefits again?
The big news companies, who tend to support the political status quo. The parties big enough to get into government are very cosy with them (not in Australia in particular, in most places).
> and the laws even stop tech companies from just removing the news companies from their search results as well.
Does that apply to all search engines? In that case it creates a barrier to entry by by making it harder for smaller competitors to emerge, so it favours Google.