Google announced last week that it would remove links to California news websites from search results. The company portrayed the move as a “test” to prepare for the possible implications if the California Journalism Preservation Act passes. Google’s announcement was clearly intended as a threat to news organizations and state lawmakers to stand down—or else. Specifically, Google could shut news organizations out of the world’s primary search engine, making their content difficult to find and imperiling their existence. It was also a show of force to lawmakers to let them know that attempts to regulate Google would not be tolerated.

Google has a near-monopoly on online search, accounting for 90% of the market, and many people find their news by conducting searches. Removing local news outlets from its search results means Californians will not be able to find important information about what’s happening in their communities and with their government. That undermines democracy, which relies upon an informed citizenry.

Given the power of Google and other major tech platforms, why would news outlets take on this fight? Because the status quo is unsustainable. News outlets rely on revenue from advertising. When people click on a link to view a story on a news website, the outlet gets a portion of the revenue from ads that appear next to the story. Google argues that it supports news operations by linking to stories, which helps drive traffic to news websites. That’s true. But it and other platforms increasingly cull facts from and post pieces of stories in response to search or to fill social media feeds, eliminating the need for people to click through to the news website. This means the company that pays to produce that news story won’t get the ad revenue associated with it.

Google, in particular, relies on news content for its search results. Yet the news outlets, whose reporters, editors and photographers produce those stories, are not being paid for the use of their work. That’s a major reason why so many newspapers, magazines and other news operations have been forced to lay off staff or shut down in the last few years.

The California Journalism Preservation Act was inspired by similar laws passed in Australia and Canada. It would establish a right for news companies to receive a “journalism usage fee” for their content. The bill would require news companies to spend at least 70% of the revenue on reporters and news staff. Details are worked on. There are still concerns, including how such a law could benefit big out-of-state news organizations at the expense of smaller local news operations. Those are problems to be solved but they shouldn’t stop negotiations or good-faith efforts.

That’s why Google’s decision to cut off California outlets now is so irritating—and it may have backfired. Senator Mike McGuire blasted the company, calling the move “clearly an abuse of power and demonstrates extraordinary arrogance.” Indeed, Google’s power flex demonstrates how much this one corporation controls access to information. If lawmakers weren’t concerned about that before, they should be now.

Large platforms imperil the existence of news outlets by