 "Google News makes opt-in compulsory for German publishers post new copyright law")
Following a new German copyright law that was passed earlier in the year, Google will now be changing the way its news-aggregation service indexes stories in Germany. Effective from August 1, the news service will only feature sources that have clearly decided to opt-in for being present on the service.
While Google News has an opt-out option in all the 60 countries and languages that it currently operates in, the new copyright law, which will also come into effect on August 1, will most likely force the company to pay newspapers, blogs and other publishers for the right to show even small parts of news.
Addressing this, Google has now made it mandatory for publishers who are interested in the service to go to Google News tool page and agree to be indexed by the service. As of August 1, any publisher who does not agree to this will immediately be removed from the index.
Google is changing its news-aggregation service in Germany post new copyright law
It was reported by TechCrunch that many German publishers were hoping to squeeze out a licensing fee for their content from the search giant. But Google has not even acknowledged the fact, instead saying that it is saddened by the upcoming change. Google clearly stated, on its German blog, that Google News currently receives 6 billion visits per month and that it would be the publishers who lose out if they opted out of the service, as the company essentially provided a free service by getting more traffic to their sites.
The biggest problem that the copyright law poses is the ambiguity behind the exact definition of the word “snippet”. The exact length of words after which a “snippet” becomes chargeable is being brought to question, with speculation revolving around a variety of numbers, ranging from 140 characters to 250 characters.
Google was clear about its stance when it said that the new law was not necessary and that the company would not pay for any of the links or snippets. While many German publishers were reported saying that they will opt-in for the service, there may be many who may decide to give the service a miss.
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