“It’s a power play” – Google’s test to remove EU-based news content raises concerns

The American giant launched a rather surprising test, consisting of hiding the news articles of press publishers in Europe. For a few weeks now, 1% of Google users in eight European countries – Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, and Croatia – are now seeing fewer news articles from European publishers in search results, Google News, and Discover sections. 

With this test, Google says it wants to understand how removing these news sources impacts user behaviour and see how people really care about news. “It’s a test, but it might have wider implications if the test is successful for Google. They want to test what’s the value for them for the news they carry,” said Tom Evens, professor of Media Industries at Belgium Ghent University.

Google also wants to show publishers how much traffic they are losing without it. “I think the final goal for Google is to show that newspapers need it more than Google needs them,” explained Evens. 

Anger of publishers

The test is received as a new challenge for media that are facing an unprecedented crisis. In France, the Syndicat des éditeurs de la presse magazine (SPEM), a French publishers union, raised deep concerns about the test and successfully blocked Google from conducting the test in the country.

Denmark, where the test is already in force, is also trying to force Google to stop it, saying that the American giant “is jeopardising fundamental democratic values.”

It’s a kind of power play. They demonstrated their power in the EU like they can block if they like to

Karen Rønde, CEO of the Danish Press Publications

“It’s a matter of principle, it’s an issue of dominance. They just block in the time when we need to fight disinformation and misinformation. This is a dangerous cocktail to block reliable news.”

Google explains on its blog that this experiment aims to respond to the requests of regulators and publishers for additional data regarding the impact of news content in research. “Instead of fulfilling this request for transparency, Google decided to completely shut down access to press publishers,” responded the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO). 

What’s the strategy behind the test? 

Google has already been under fire for several years in Europe since the establishment by a 2019 European directive of the copyright-related rights for digital platforms. They allow newspapers, magazines, or press agencies to be paid when their content is reused by digital giants. In the case of Google, these are the titles and excerpts of articles that appear in the results of the search engine and its Google News and Discover services.

Since the European Copyright Directive, publishers have been asking for financial compensation from Google for the traffic their content generates. Agreements with confidential amounts have been concluded with some publishers. However, Google is often criticised for not complying with the legislation. The American giant has, for example, been fined twice in France, of 500 million and 250 million euros, for not having negotiated “in good faith” with press publishers.

In response to growing demands from European publishers, can Google use the results of this test to justify removing news content? “Google has the feeling that it will need to pay too much. If it turns out that indeed Google users don’t need this content, it will lead to less payment or no payment at all from Google,” said Tom Evens. “It would have a double impact for the publishers. First, they will not receive a payment from Google, and then, they will see a substantial drop on their website with an impact on advertising revenue and possibly new subscriptions as well.”

A superpower

When Google wants something, it knows how to make itself heard. The examples are numerous. In Canada, when the government wanted to force Google to pay media outlets for sharing content, Google threatened to suspend all links to news content. Google also removed all links to California news outlets in response to the state’s Journalism Preservation Act earlier this year. 

“If Google doesn’t want to care about news, is there a way to force them to do so? I guess it’s difficult,” said Evens. Google’s test threatens media publishers’ revenues in Europe, but how big will the impact be? It’s difficult to say, according to experts, because Google does not share its data. 

“For me it’s not just about blocking news. I believe it’s just a small part of Google’s strategy,” said Rønde. “They haven’t launched Google AI Overviews (summarising web pages using AI) in the EU yet. So at the end of the day, the test will show that news doesn’t have any value to Google, and then they will launch Google AI Overviews. They are smart, very smart.”

A situation reminiscent of that of Facebook, which removed the News tab and stopped paying publishers. “The big thing is that we need to create more competition among Google and Facebook and not let them be so dominant like they are today,” concluded Evens. It remains to be seen whether it’s not too late.

Source of the cover image: Adarsh Chauhan via Unsplash

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