Just a bit of background: last month, Spain passed a new law that would require content aggregators pay publishers for snippets of news.
Unlike other countries where publishers have tried to sue Google for Google's use of snippets (and where publishers have typically backed down when Google stopped using snippets from their publications), Spain passed a law (not yet in effect) which provides that publishers have an "inalienable right" to be paid for snippets; the effect of this will be that publishers can't say "no thanks" to getting paid. Not bad for publishers, but maybe bad for others who want aggregators (not just Google) to showcase their stuff and drive traffic their way. It's probably worth pointing out that any publisher that was mad about snippets always had the option of opting-out of Google News if they thought it was a bad deal.
Unsurprisingly, Google has just taken the step of announcing that it will be pulling Google News out of Spain, following which Google News will no longer have any Spanish publications. I don't know if a piece of legislation could fail any harder - not only will Spanish publishers not get additional cash from Google, they will probably enjoy far less traffic.
From Google:
Quote:
It’s a service that hundreds of millions of users love and trust, including many here in Spain. It’s free to use and includes everything from the world’s biggest newspapers to small, local publications and bloggers. Publishers can choose whether or not they want their articles to appear in Google News -- and the vast majority choose to be included for very good reason. Google News creates real value for these publications by driving people to their websites, which in turn helps generate advertising revenues.
But sadly, as a result of a new Spanish law, we’ll shortly have to close Google News in Spain. Let me explain why. This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not. As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable. So it’s with real sadness that on 16 December (before the new law comes into effect in January) we’ll remove Spanish publishers from Google News, and close Google News in Spain.
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The post is at Google's Europe blog
here.