Google to pay more than $1 billion to publishers for news content

Google will pay publishers for news content as part of a new $1 billion investment for a new program that will display curated content from the outlets, the tech company said Thursday. 

Google is going to pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for its new Google News Showcase that the tech giant said will “benefit both publishers and readers.” 

The new initiative comes after years of scrutiny from the new industry over how the search engine and other tech companies have used their content, with news companies accusing the tech giants of unfairly using content.

Google’s new News Showcase is made up of story panels that give publishers the ability to package the stories that appear in Google’s news products, Google said. 

“It features the editorial curation of award-winning newsrooms to give readers more insight on the stories that matter, and in the process, helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences,” Google said in an announcement. 

The News Showcase will appear initially in Google News on Android platforms. The company said the product will launch soon, without a specified date, on Google News on iOS and later on Google Discover and Search. 

The product launched Thursday in Brazil and Germany and will expand to other countries in coming months. Google said it signed partnerships with nearly 200 publications across Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the U.K. and Australia.