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The Association for Media Information (AMI) has issued a statement rejecting Google‘s decision to exclude news content from EU publishers from its search engine.
On Wednesday, November 13, Google announced its decision to restrict content from publishers in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. The measure is time-limited and affects 1% of users in the affected countries.
According to the company’s statement, the aim of this decision is to conduct an “experiment” to obtain information about the impact of displaying news content in its search engine.
Google explains that this decision is in response to requests from independent administrative authorities and press publishers who have requested more detailed information about the impact of EU publishers’ content and its results on all Google products (Google News, Google Search and Discover).
Irene Lanzaco, Director General of the AMI, said: “In a context where Google is an essential gateway to publishers’ content, its decision to remove news results from its products is an unacceptable practice that undermines European citizens’ right to information endangered, as guaranteed by the EMFA (European Media Freedom Act).
However, during this “experiment”, the search engine will continue to show results for content from non-EU publishers. Lanzaco called this decision “unacceptable.”
On the other hand, Google announced that in any case this restriction will not affect the payments it makes to press publishers under the EU Copyright Directive. For several years now, the company has been running the Extended News Previews program, a licensing program for EU press publishers that allows Google to comply with Article 15 of the EU Copyright Directive.
Despite Google’s reported initiatives and programs, a number of complaints have been filed against the tech giant. Lawsuits that in many cases result in lawsuits and fines running into millions of dollars. An example of this is the fine of 2.4 billion euros confirmed by the Court of Justice of the European Union as a result of the European Commission’s action.
On the same day that Google announced these restrictions, Shailesh Prakash, vice president and general manager of Google News, resigned. “This move comes in a context where Google’s conduct towards publishers is being challenged with a number of open complaints in various jurisdictions,” Lanzaco said.
The Asociación de Medios de Información (AMI) represents the Spanish media before national and international institutions. Currently, AMI brings together 85 national and regional media outlets that specialize in the development of general, economic and sports information, which is distributed daily through all types of media.
Source: Agencies
