Over 150 publishers from across the United States have elected to join Google’s News Showcase program, marking a notable shift in the landscape of content compensation and copyright in the digital age. The US publishers’ move arrives in the wake of the search engine giant’s continuous effort to offer financial support to the news industry which has been grappling with a significant loss of advertising revenue.
Google announced this development in a blog post recently, indicating that the US will join the ranks of approximately 20 other countries this summer, where prestigious publishers have agreed to supply content for the News Showcase platform.
The News Showcase, as championed by Google, serves as an innovative approach to bolster the news sector, an industry that has faced an alarming decline in its primary revenue stream. This downturn followed as advertisers increasingly diverted their focus away from print media and towards search ads.
Although Google has not publicly disclosed the financial figures involved in its compensatory arrangement with the news companies, it’s clear that the platform will embrace both local and global news outlets. Examples include smaller regional publishers such as Minnesota’s Duluth News Tribune and Florida’s Orlando Weekly, as well as larger, internationally recognized new outlets like The Associated Press, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal.
For years, publishers have criticized tech behemoths, Google and Facebook (now owned by Meta), for featuring news content on their platforms without any associated compensation. These grievances have sparked numerous legal proposals and potential policies worldwide, with online content payment becoming a heated global discussion.
In California, for instance, a proposed law is currently under review which would mandate internet powerhouses to pay for the news they feature. However, Meta has staunchly opposed such legislation, even threatening to remove news from its platforms should the law pass.
The issue escalated in Australia last year when Facebook temporarily blocked news articles in reaction to a similar law. Google, too, threatened to withdraw its search engine from the country before eventually negotiating payment deals with several media organizations.
In the European Union, there are already provisions in place that permit asking tech giants to pay a copyright fee to publishers for links posted in search results or feeds. In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly criticized Meta after the company said it would block news for Canadian Facebook and Instagram users in response to a similar proposed law there.
As the debate on online content compensation rages on, the News Showcase program represents a significant milestone in the journey towards fair payment for digital content. With more than 150 US publishers now on board, this initiative will undoubtedly set a precedent for future discussions on the subject.
This news story is based on an article from malaymail.com.
