Google News Service closes in Spain due to copyright law

Google closed on Tuesday the Google News service in Spain due to a copyright law that would force the Spanish publications to receive a payment for the content included in the platform.

The Spanish page of Google News, normally full of aggregate media content, faded away and instead a message indicating that Google “regrets” to inform the close of the service, and that the publication of Spanish publishers will no longer appear in more than 70 international editions of Google News.

The Spanish law comes into force on January 1, and Google said that it was untenable to maintain the service and pay publishers because their popular news aggregator does not generate revenues.

Customers using the Google search engine in Spain and elsewhere in the world can find the items directly from Spanish publications, because the law applies only to aggregators and not to individuals that make their own searches outside of Google News.

Losing access to Google News may make it harder for people to know what happens in Spain because they will have to know where to look instead of the main stories come to them.