Google News returns to Spain

In 2014, we closed Google News in Spain due to local legislation. Today, we’re announcing that Google News will soon be available once again in Spain. We made this decision as a result of a new Royal Decree implementing the European Copyright Directive, introduced today by the Spanish government.

This is good news for readers in Spain. Starting early next year, Google News will provide links to useful and relevant news stories, from a wide range of sources, to help people in Spain find more information about current events and to dive deeper into those stories. Moreover, Google News helps people get more information from more news sources; a key tool in the fight against misinformation. For journalists and publishers, Google News helps them be discovered by more readers and generate valuable free traffic.

Working with news publishers

Along with the return of Google News, the new copyright law allows Spanish media outlets — big and small — to make their own decisions about how their content can be discovered and how they want to make money with that content. Over the coming months, we will be working with publishers to reach agreements which cover their rights under the new law.

Alongside this, we will work towards bringing Google News Showcase to Spain, a licensing program and new product experience which pays publishers to curate content for story panels across Google News and Discover.

Sustainable journalism

We believe that technology companies, news organizations and governments need to collaborate to enable a strong future for journalism. Over the years, we’ve taken many steps to support the evolution and long-term sustainability of journalism, from sending billions of visits every month to news websites globally to improving the ways that publishers who choose to be included in products like Google Search and News appear to readers, and the Google News Initiative’s efforts to help publishers transform their business models and spur growth.

We’ve also helped publishers make money by providing tools and technology that help them run digital advertising on their websites and apps. Every year, we pay out billions of dollars directly to the publishing partners in our ad network. In Spain, between 2018 to 2020, Google paid out more than $130 million to the top five news publisher partners in our ad network.

We are thrilled that we will soon be able to bring Google News back to Spain and help connect people with more news and information that matters to them and their community. To read more about how we support Spanish publishers in Spain, please visit: g.co/ApoyandoMediosEspaña

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