Reuters: Google to pay for displaying news with 300 publishers from EU

The US-based company Google, owned by Alphabet Corporation, has signed agreements on payments for displaying news with more than 300 European publishers. This was reported on Wednesday by Reuters with reference to a representative of the company.

"At the moment, we have concluded agreements that cover more than 300 national, local and specialized news outlets in Germany, Hungary, France, Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland," said Sulina Connal, a Google spokeswoman, quoted by Reuters. The amount of future payments is not specified. According to Connal, a corresponding "tool for providing commercial offers to thousands more news outlets" will be launched on the platform in the coming months.

According to Reuters, Google has long been criticized in the EU for publishing news content for free, which violates copyrights. Some countries, such as Australia and Canada, have already introduced a fee for news as a prerequisite for the operation of online platforms on their territory.

Google is a US-based public corporation investing in Internet search and advertising technologies, as well as developing online services and high-tech products. The company, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, was registered as a private enterprise in September 1998, and is now part of Alphabet Holding. The headquarters is located in Mountain View (California).