Google has a tumultuous history with the German publishing industry, which has long taken issue with the search giant’s indexing of news stories. Starting next week, Google Germany will no longer display summaries and image thumbnails for news sourced from many local sites, leaving only headline links in their place.
The move is yet another concession in the wake of legal action from a group of publications including Bild, Germany’s top-selling newspaper. Just last year, Google stopped automatically indexing news in the country, asking sites to opt in instead. The industry has for years claimed that Google’s indexing was tantamount to republishing articles, and demanded compensation for lost ad revenues. It’s hoped that this latest compromise will be enough to end the dispute once and for all.
Filed under: Internet, Google
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Via: iOL Scitech (AFP)
Source: Google Germany Product Blog