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The recent experiment reported the results it tested, which removed news from search results for 1% of users for 2.5 months in eight European markets. This testifies that the results show that Google news value is worthless to Google’s ad business.
Reportedly, the search giant conducted the test because European copyright law requires it to pay news publishers for reusing snippets of their content.
There has been a concern about Google News’s value in displaying news. Therefore, Google maintains that publishers “vastly overestimate” the value of their journalism to its business; per its report of the tests, the actual value “could not be statistically distinguished from zero, either overall or by country.”
Google hopes to use this outcome as leverage in payment negotiations with European publishers. However, the tech giant is walking a tricky line, as it has recently faced significant antitrust fines in France for news content. In particular, it was fined over half a billion dollars over its approach to copyright negotiations with publishers.
Germany’s competition authority has dialed scrutiny of elements of Google’s behavior around news, forcing the company to make changes. So, any moves by Google to undercut the effect of the EU copyright law based on the worthiness of Google news value could land in more regulatory challenges.
Of the truth, the company had initially added users in France in the news ablation tests; however, it abandoned this portion of the experiment after a French court warned it would be fined for breaking a prior agreement with the antitrust authority. Notably, Google also did not run the test in Germany.
The Google News value experiment appears to be an objective inquiry and a tactical move to weaken publishers’ bargaining power. Claiming news is worthless to its ad business positions the company to resist EU copyright demands. However, this argument feels disingenuous. If news had no value, why does Google fight tooth and nail to display it?
This approach possibly supports the previous sanctions and is pending scrutiny in Europe. Therefore, law enforcers have to either decline or accept Google’s findings. This could also reinforce concerns about its market dominance and strengthen its troubles with European authorities.
In other news, Google’s $30 billion cybersecurity move raises eyebrows, sparking speculation over the future of cloud security.
