Google refuses to pay European publishers for news story previews
Google will not pay European news publishers to show previews of their content in its search results, the tech giant has revealed.
In a blog post published today, Google said its news search service in France will only display previews of articles when the publisher has given permission for it to be used for free.
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If EU publishers have not agreed to show previews – also known as snippets – then Google will only display the headline and thumbnail.
The move marks the first major shift in Google’s policy following the approval of the new European copyright directive, and represents a major setback for publishers.
Under the new laws, publishers have the right to charge a fee when their material is republished on other sites, including in search results.
The controversial measure, dubbed the ‘link tax’, was designed to level the playing field following complaints that news aggregators such as Facebook and Google have been snapping up ad revenue from content created by other publishers.
But today’s announcement shows Google has opted to comply with the law by showing stripped-back previews – which are allowed – rather than paying publishers for their material.
“Publishers have always been able to choose whether or not they want their content to be accessible through Google’s search engine or Google News,” said Richard Gingras, vice president of news at Google.
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“We have just put in place more granular webmaster settings that allow publishers to specify how much information they want to appear as a preview in the search results.”
France is currently the only country to have enshrined the new EU regulations in its national copyright law, and the changes will come into force in October. Other EU states have until 2021 to implement the new laws.
Main image credit: Getty