MADRID (AP) — Google’s decision to close Google News in Spain because of a law requiring aggregators to pay news publishers for linking content also means that the publishers’ content will vanish around the world.
The company said it will block reports from Spanish publishers from its more than 70 Google News international editions in addition to the Spain shutdown on Dec. 16 — two weeks before a new Spanish intellectual property law takes effect.
That means people in Latin America where Spanish news organizations are trying to boost audiences won’t see that news via Google News in Mexico and elsewhere.
Spain’s AEDE association, which represents large news publishers, lobbied for the law nicknamed the “Google Tax.”
The association declined comment Thursday on Google Inc.’s decision.
It’s the first Google News shutdown.
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