Spanish Newspapers Don't Want Google News To Shut Down

A new law passed in Spain required Google to pay Spanish news providers every time their content appeared on the site. In response, Google announced that it will be shutting down Google News which obviously is not a good news for online media outlets. 

Now, the Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association is pleading for mercy, according to Spain report. 

"The Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association (AEDE) issued a statement last night saying that Google News was "not just the closure of another service given its dominant market position", recognizing that Google's decision: "will undoubtedly have a negative impact on citizens and Spanish businesses," the news paper noted. 

Explaining the move of shutting down Google News, Google explained: 

"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. As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable. So it's with real sadness that on 16 December (before the new law comes into effect in January) we'll remove Spanish publishers from Google News, and close Google News in Spain."

In Europe, Internet laws are generally more sympathetic toward citizens than toward Internet companies and it will be interesting to see how Spanish media and Google manage to reach the consensus.