Google News Test Backfires in EU as New Law Mandates Payment for News Stories on Internet Platforms
But how much should Google pay to show sneak peeks of articles? Google wants to find out this by testing nine EU countries.
For the test, 1% of users will not see news stories from EU-based publishers in search or Google News. This is so Google can see how the change affects business. At least, that’s what the plan was. However, the plan doesn’t seem well thought out since news outlets found the test in a blog post.
The Paris Commercial Court told Google it was breaking a deal with the French Competition Authority just one day after the company made its plan public. Google could either get rid of the test or pay €900,000 daily. The company took France off the list.
For now, this 1% trial is only happening in eight countries…
