Google to Pay Media Houses for Online News Content

Discussions are on for a deal in which Google is going to pay media organizations for the content they publish. It is seen as a move that is aimed at blunting the criticism that Google earns profits from copyrighted news.

Negotiations are on between the internet giant and news outlets. The talks are in the early stages, in which most of the publishers are located in France and other parts of Europe.

Paying for news would now diverge from the Alphabet-owned top IT company’s practice of free mining of the internet for the material it displays in its search results.

The deal is likely to be welcomed by the news organizations, as they are going to earn profit with Google derives as well as from the ads displayed along with their news articles, which includes ‘snippets’ in search results.

Asked by AFP, Google has indicated that it is seeking new ways to help the news publishers. Google vice president of news Richard Gingras said in a statement, “We want to help people find quality journalism it’s important to informed democracy and helps support a sustainable news industry”. 

He also added, “We care deeply about this and are talking with partners and looking at more ways to expand our ongoing work with publishers, building on programs like our Google News Initiative.”

Earlier the Wall Street Journal reported that Google was considering deals for a ‘premium’ news product.

As in earlier occasions, the California based tech giant was adamant about not paying for the news article links, which are being displayed in its search results and is not changing that position. It has also argued that it drives traffic for the news websites and thereby help the publishers get ad revenues.

Google’s News Initiative mainly works with publishers using innovative trends to encourage readership and paid subscriptions to their offerings.

Facebook, which also faced similar criticism in the past has launched a dedicated ‘news tab’ last year with professionally produced content. The move by the social network is to promote journalism and to shed its reputation as a platform for misinformation. In some cases, Facebook was expected to pay some of the news organizations, with millions of dollars.

The recent move by Google also comes amid pressure in order to comply with the European copyright directive on content in its search results.

Last year, Google clearly said that it would not be going to pay European media outlets for using their contents in the form of articles, pictures and videos in its searches. France, the first country to raise voice and ratify the copyright directive led to the prospect of legal action against the Internet titan.

The tech giant also said it would only display content in its search engine results and on the Google News from the media groups who had given them permission to use them for free.