For the past decade, as news outlets struggled to make money in a changing digital market, governments worldwide have been tabling laws to require major tech companies to compensate news outlets for their content.

For just as long, in just about any country attempting to legislate the relationship between the news and digital platforms, Google’s former vice president of news Richard Gingras could be found, arguing that the bills are misguided and that the company is a crusader for a free web, not the scary monolith critics make it out to be.