Google News to shut down in Spain ahead of new law

Earlier today Google announced that it will shut down its Google News service in Spain in response to a new law requiring the search giant to pay Spanish news organizations for linked content or excerpts of news. As the new copyright law takes effect in January, Google will also remove Spanish publishers from its global news site starting on December 16.

The law dubbed "Google Tax" passed in October and according to it services that use links or snippets of news articles will have to pay a fee to the Association of Editors of Spanish Dailies. The organization represents the Spanish newspaper industry. Those who abuse the law will have to pay fines up to  600,000 ($750,000).

"This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not," Richard Gingras, head of Google News, wrote in the post. "As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable."

"Despite these changes, we'll continue to work with Spanish publishers to help them increase their readership and revenues online," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

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