Google Reports European News Content Has Negligible Value to Its Platform

An experiment in eight EU countries found no significant impact on ad revenue or user behavior when news content was removed for 1% of users.

Google conducted a test from November 2024 to January 2025, removing news content for 1% of users in eight EU countries to measure its economic value.
The results showed no measurable impact on Google's ad revenue and only a 0.8% drop in platform usage during the experiment.
Google plans to use these findings in ongoing negotiations with European publishers under the EU Copyright Directive, which mandates payments for news content usage.
France and Germany were excluded from the experiment due to regulatory and legal challenges, highlighting Google's complex relationship with European regulators.
Despite the findings, Google asserts its commitment to supporting the news ecosystem and partnering with publishers during the digital transformation of the industry.