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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I have a suspicion that won’t stop people from getting news.
The international wire services already do a fairly good job covering Spain, especially with soccer scores and economic news. On the other hand, how much effort are publishers in Spain putting into developing Latin American markets?
I suspect they believed Google would just pay up, and they are now reeling from a dawning understanding that they need Google far more then Google needs them.
Indeed. This is or linking stories, not republishing the text on another site, so I don’t get how the papers think they were losing money.
The law as described sounds so crazy that I am wondering if the description is missing some important elements.