Google to pay publishers $1 billion for news content

BRUSSELS: The US tech company Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai has said that the company planned to pay $1 billion to publishers internationally for its content over the next three years.

The decision was taken as a move that could help it win over a powerful group amid heightened regulatory scrutiny worldwide.

News publishers have long fought Google internet search engine for compensation for using their content, with European media groups leading the charge.

CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post, the new product called Google News Showcase will begin first in Germany, where it has signed up German newspapers including Der Spiegel, Stern, Die Zeit, and in Brazil with Folha de S.Paulo, Band and Infobae.

The product will be rolled out in Belgium, India, the Netherlands and other countries. About 200 publishers in Argentina, Australia, Britain, Brazil, Canada and Germany have signed up for the product.

He further said, “This financial commitment – our biggest to date – will pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for a different kind of online news experience.”

The product, which permitted publishers to choose and present their stories, will start on Google News on Android devices and eventually on Apple devices.

“This approach is different from our other news products because it leans on the editorial choices entity publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them,” Pichai added.

The product builds on a licensing deal inked to some media groups in Australia, Brazil and Germany in June, which drew a tepid reply from the European Publishers Council.

Google is discussing with French publishers, among its most vocal critics, while Australia wants to force it and Facebook to share advertising revenue with local media groups.