Google Launches News Showcase in the US in Partnership with Over 150 Media Outlets

The American giant “Google” announced, on Friday, the launch of the “Google News Showcase” service in the United States in agreement and partnership with more than 150 media outlets, which allows local press publishers to highlight their content on “Google News” and in the “Suggestions” feature. Google”, in the form of small “showcases”.

The company that owns the largest search platform also announced an agreement with a number of media organizations to pay sums of money for the contents that will be published on the Internet, in addition to training programs, especially for the development of digital uses. The launch of this service helped calm relations between the press and the giant group in a number of countries in the world, especially Europe and Australia, as newspaper publishers regularly accuse Google of using their content in the search engine without paying a fair price.

Google initially wanted News Showcase as an enforcement tool for new European legislation on related rights, which requires it to pay press publishers for content used by its search engine. However, the French Competition Authority took a decisive stance towards Google in July 2021, and forced the American group to separate the two issues.

The service was launched globally in October 2020, but it was not available in the United States. According to the giant network, “Google News Selections” will be launched in the United States during the summer, in partnership with more than 150 media outlets, 90% of which are local or regional, with headquarters in 39 out of 50 US states.

Among the most prominent national media outlets under this service are the Wall Street Journal or the news agencies Bloomberg, Reuters and the Associated Press. Google also announced that it had reached an agreement, without specifying the amount, with five organizations representing about 1,000 local media outlets across the United States.

Work began on the “Google News Selections” service in about twenty countries, especially in Europe, last October.

In concrete terms, the application allows press publishers to present, in the results of “Google News” or in the “Google Suggestions” feature, small windows that present many content from their sites, in addition to the content directly corresponding to the searches made by Internet users.

(AFP)