Google News Resumes Services In Spain After 8-Year Hiatus: Here's What Happened

Eight years after shutting down, Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG reopened Google News services in Spain on Wednesday. 

What Happened: The company had, earlier in 2014, stopped its news services due to a Spanish rule that forced Google and other news aggregators to pay publishers for using snippets of their news.

The Madrid government last year transposed European Union copyright rules, revamped in 2020, into legislation that allowed media publications to negotiate directly with the news aggregators.

The move prompted an announcement from Alphabet last year that it would reopen its Google News service in the following year in the country.

“This is thanks to an updated copyright law allowing Spanish media outlets – big and small – to make their own decisions about how their content can be discovered and how they want to monetize that content,” Fuencisla Clemares, vice president for Iberia, said in a statement.

She further added that the company is also planning to launch Google News Showcase, its vehicle for paying news publishers, at the earliest in Spain.

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Alphabet Inc Class A shares closed 4.11% higher at $2,230 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc Class C shares ended 3.85% higher at $2,240.30.