Google has launched an experiment to temporarily remove content from EU publishers from its search engine, Google News, and Discover platforms. This test, conducted in nine EU countries—Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain—will impact only 1% of users. According to The Verge, the goal is to measure how the absence of local news content affects traffic to news sites and user engagement.
The experiment is a response to requests from EU regulators and publishers seeking more data on search result impacts. Google has stated that this test is temporary and has assured that European news articles will return to search results once the experiment concludes. During the test, however, users in the affected regions will continue to see news content from publishers outside the EU.
Impact on Publishers and User Engagement
At the end of the experiment, publishers in the EU will have an opportunity to analyze the potential loss in traffic without Google’s support. Concurrently, Google will assess the degree of user interest in news content when European publishers’ news is unavailable. A relevant example is Facebook, which previously tested similar changes by removing its News tab and eventually stopped compensating publishers. Google’s experiment may reveal comparable insights into how critical its news services are to EU publishers and user engagement.
Google’s Tense Relationship with EU Publishers
For years, Google’s relationship with EU news publishers and regulators has been strained, particularly over obligations to pay for news content, notes NIXsolutions. Under the European Copyright Directive, Google has entered agreements with hundreds of European publishers. The company was recently fined $272 million for failing to comply with these compensation requirements. The EU experiment mirrors Google’s actions in other regions, such as in response to the California Journalism Protection Act, where Google removed links to local news resources. Similar moves have been proposed in Canada and Australia, where Google nearly halted its services over legal disputes.
This EU test could potentially reshape Google’s future approach to regional news regulations. We’ll keep you updated as more information on the results becomes available.