WELLINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Google said on Friday it

will stop linking to New Zealand news articles and ditch the

agreements it has with local news organisations, if the

country's government goes ahead with a law to force tech giants

to pay a fair price for content that appears on their feeds.

The New Zealand government in July confirmed it would

progress legislation started by the previous Labour Party-led

government that ensures fair revenue sharing between operators

of digital platforms and news media entities. The proposed

legislation is still in review and is likely to see changes

including some to bring it more in line with Australian

legislation.

Caroline Rainsford, Google New Zealand Country Director said

in a blog post that if the bill as it currently stands becomes

law, Google would be forced to make significant changes to its

products and investments.

"We'd be forced to stop linking to news content on Google

Search, Google News or Discover surfaces in New Zealand and

discontinue our current commercial agreements and ecosystem

support with New Zealand news publishers," Rainsford said.

Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc ( GOOG ) , is

concerned that bill is contrary to the idea of the internet

being open, that it will be harmful to small publishers and that

the uncapped financial exposure provides business uncertainty.

New Zealand Minister for Media and Communications Paul

Goldsmith said he was considering the range of views in the

sector.

"We are still in the consultation phase and will make

announcements in due course," he said in a statement. "My

officials and I have met with Google on a number of occasions to

discuss their concerns, and will continue to do so."

Although minority government coalition partner ACT does not

support the legislation, it is likely to find enough cross party

support to pass once finalised.

Australia introduced a law in 2021 that gave the government

power to make internet companies negotiate content supply deals

with media outlets. A review released by the Australian

government in 2022 found it largely worked.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; editing by Lincoln Feast.)