Google News faces uncertainty in its future in Europe. It is especially that Google News European Union has polished its new copyright legislation that becomes very controversial today. Previously, Google discussed the dramatic effect of this law on its search results. In fact, it gives a warning that there is a big possibility that the service will be shut down entirely in the said country.
Updated on 13 May 2024
Europe’s Copyright Legislation is Well-intentioned
It might not seem obvious but the controversial move of the European Union is actually intended to produce good results. However, it appears not to be the case for Google News. The European Copyright Directive requires major tech companies to acquire a license in order to have the right of reproducing materials having copyrights on their websites. But it turns out that the legislation will cause Google News useless. Why? It is because Google will no longer have the right to display photos and brief snippets coming from their Google European News stories without actually paying the sites who owns the news.
Last month Google discussed how its news search results would look like without text excerpts and photos. Apparently, this delivers anything but useless search results pages. Previously, the company mentioned its ideal option to solve the further problem, in which it would face due to the EU’s action. Unfortunately, that is to shut down Google News lab Europe.
In Germany, the same thing happened. It is when publishers pressure Google to remove excerpts from links. However, this likewise produced an undesirable result for them. For this reason, most of the publishers backed off from pushing the demand.
The Future of Google News Europe
Right now, the controversial copyright legislation in Europe leaves the future of Google News uncertain. However, a report coming from Reuters said that the European Union now finalized the said text including new rules. The said mentioned that negotiators coming from counties in the region, the European Commission, and the European Parliament finalized a deal following a long day of pure negotiations. On the other hand, Andrus Ansip the digital chief in Europe tweeted regarding the copyright law saying Europeans will have new copyright rules finally, that can match the modern digital age today. He also said that the law will produce genuine benefits for everyone. That it will grant sure rights for users, clear rules for all platforms, and equal remuneration for content creators.
With the text making the EU clear for its intentions, Google announced that it is currently considering the company’s options saying they will study the legislation text just before giving its decisions on what things to do next.
Final Thought
The controversial copyright legislation in Europe caused a rather domino-like impact. Actually, the law affects YouTube as well. Requiring all video hosting sites to stop users from uploading copyrighted contents. Originally, YouTube allows uploading of copyrighted materials. However, what the company does in return is to give a notification to the material owners. Moreover, giving them a choice to remove the content or monetize it instead. Now that the text is out, it prompts YouTube to announce that they will probably block particular videos in European countries.
