Google to Pay Publishers Over $1 Billion for News Content

  • News Showcase product launches in Germany, Brazil Thursday
  • News publishers have pressured Google for years over payment
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Alphabet Inc.’s Google will start paying select media outlets to display curated content on its news app in a concession to the industry which has accused the search engine and other tech giants of unfairly using content for years.

The company has set aside more than $1 billion to cover the program’s first three years, and will extend the program beyond that, Google said in a statement on Thursday. The search giant will pay publishers to provide blurbs for its news app and to give readers free access to certain paywalled articles, Google said.