Google is launching an experiment to remove news from publishers in the European Union from its search engine, Google News and Discover, to find out how much such changes will affect traffic to news sites and how this will affect users. According to The Verge, the test will affect only 1% of users in nine EU countries – Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.
Image source: Copilot
The company said the test is temporary and is being conducted at the request of EU regulators and publishers who have requested additional data related to search results. After the experiment is completed, Google promises to return articles from European news sites to search. At the same time, during the test, users will continue to see content from publishers located outside the EU.
By the end of the experiment, publishers will be able to estimate how much traffic they will lose without Google. At the same time, Google will be able to understand how much users are generally interested in news. An example is Facebook✴, which previously explored this issue on its site, and ultimately removed the “News” tab and completely stopped paying remuneration to publishers.
It is worth saying that Google’s relationship with news publishers and regulators in the EU as a whole has remained tense for many years. The company opposes legal requirements requiring it to pay publishers for news content. However, as part of the European Copyright Directive, Google was forced to enter into agreements with hundreds of publishers in Europe, and was recently even fined $272 million for violating compensation terms.
This EU test is reminiscent of Google’s recent efforts in other regions. In response to California’s Defend Journalism Act, the company removed links to local news outlets. Similar threats were voiced against Canada, and in Australia, Google almost turned off its search engine due to similar legal requirements.