Every country seems to have some kind of problem with Google, but it’s rarely with all of Google. Rather, countries seem to select a specific service that the search engine giant provides and focus on that. In Italy, the complaints were about Google News, and specifically the inability to remove articles from Google News without also removing them from the primary search engine site. The Italian Antitrust Authority had been investigating them for this reason, but Google has now officially addressed these issues and Italy has dropped the inquiry.
According to the New York Times, the complaints had originated from the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers. This group stated that its members weren’t able to remove articles from the Google News service without also hindering referrals from other areas of Google, and that this harmed their revenue. Further, they stated that the ability to remove their articles from Google News was important for retaining their revenue since Google provides summary blurbs that “few users bother to click through.”
It would be interesting to see some actual facts and figures on click-through rate here, but alas, none are provided. Considering that the Google News summaries are incredibly brief and superficial, and certainly don’t provide a full story, it seems unlikely that they’re replacing the actual content provider as a resource.
Regardless of whether or not Google News actually interferes, the search engine giant has made it easier for users to opt out of the News site without removing themselves from the core SERP. Further, Google has increased the transparency of their AdSense revenue sharing to ensure that no discrimination is occurring based on whether a news site is using AdSense as an advertising medium.
While the case in Italy is now closed, Google still has legal battles to fight in Germany, Cuba, Spain, the U.S., and with the European Competition Commission.
