Google will have to pay media outlets to display their content

Until now, web giants like Google could use articles from Swiss media outlets to enrich their services without financial compensation, whether through excerpts in Google Search or summaries on Google News. But this era is coming to an end, according to the NZZ. The Federal Council is proposing an amendment to the Copyright Act to ensure that platforms pay fair compensation to media houses.

Concretely, nothing will change for Internet users: content will remain visible on search engines. However, platforms will now have to pay up. According to a study commissioned by Fehr Advice, Google is expected to pay Swiss media outlets at least 154 million francs annually for the use of their content.

The distribution of this money will not be at the whim of the web giants. A collective management company, such as Pro Litteris, will be responsible for redistributing the sums. The goal is to prevent only large press groups from benefiting and to ensure that small regional publishers and journalists themselves are also compensated.

And to avoid favoring media outlets that simply generate the most clicks, compensation will not be linked to the traffic generated, but to the journalistic work provided. Media outlets that cover mountainous regions or peripheral areas, where access to information is more difficult, should therefore benefit from special support.

Unlike the European Union, which provides for a right to prohibit (publishers can refuse to allow Google to use their articles), Switzerland has opted for a more flexible approach: access remains free, but it must be paid for. This is a way, according to the Federal Council, to avoid the tensions seen elsewhere. Google has already threatened to block certain content in several European countries, or even temporarily remove excerpts from articles to test the impact on the use of its services. These actions were widely perceived as a show of force.