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Google News to shut down in Spain

Antonia Molloy
The Independent
(FILES) This file picture dated January 11, 2011 shows a screen image showing the Google logo in Washington, DC. The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly for the break-up of Google on November 27, 2014 in a largely symbolic vote that still cast another blow in the four-year standoff between Brussels and the US Internet giant. In a direct challenge to Google, MEPs assembled in Strasbourg approved a resolution calling on the EU to consider ordering search engines to separate their commercial services from their businesses. AFP PHOTO/KAREN BLEIERKAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images ORIG FILE ID: 535723073

Google News will no longer operate in Spain — ahead of a new law requiring the Internet search company to pay Spanish news organizations for linked content or snippets of news.

The move marks the first time globally that Google will shut down its news service and comes in response a new Spanish intellectual property law going into effect on Jan. 1, dubbed the Google Tax.

Google said in a statement that the company's news product for Spain will stop linking content from Spanish publishers and close on Dec. 16.

The law did not specify how much publishers would have to be paid by Google. Spain's AEDE group of news publishers lobbied for the law and Google said publishers would be forced to charge the company "for showing even the smallest snippets of their content — whether they want to charge or not."

"As Google News shows no ads and makes no revenue, this approach is simply unsustainable," Google said.

Google News has long rankled newspaper publishers and other content providers who contend the service tramples on copyrights by creating a digital kiosk of headlines and story snippets gathered from other websites.

Google maintains it obeys all copyright laws while sending more people to websites highlighted in its news services. The company also allows publishers to prevent material from being displayed in Google News, an option few websites choose because the service is an important traffic source to sell ads.

After Germany revised copyright laws last year in a way that could have required Google News to make royalty payments, Google required publishers to give consent for summarizing content and most did.

This story originally appeared in The Independent. The content was created separately from USA TODAY.

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