Google News: Newsagent of the Web

Ha!

Less than 24 hours after I made the comparison between Google and newsagents in yeterday’s post, Matt Brittin, managing director of Google UK, makes that very same point in front of a committee of MPs:

“It’s wrong to paint us as stealing content. We are, if you like, a virtual newsagent…

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“In a physical newsagent’s, newspapers will pay the newsagent to have their newspapers in the shop. We don’t charge anybody for this service. This is a free service.”

You can read more about Google’s response on Press Gazette and Journalism.co.uk

And this story looks like it quietly kills off the idea that search engines might pay publishers for exclusive content idea.