History of Google News in Timeline
Google News is a news aggregation service developed by Google. It gathers and organizes news articles from thousands of publishers and magazines, presenting them in a continuous flow of links. Users can customize their news feed by selecting preferred topics and sources, offering a personalized news experience. Google News utilizes algorithms to determine the relevance and prominence of news stories, often prioritizing those from reputable sources. The platform has evolved over time, incorporating features like personalized recommendations, diverse perspectives, and fact-checking initiatives to combat misinformation. Accessible through web browsers and mobile apps, Google News serves as a widely used resource for staying informed on current events globally.
2002: Fixtures Marketing v. OPAP Decision
In 2002 a legal precedent was established in the Fixtures Marketing v. OPAP ruling
2002: United Airlines Files for Bankruptcy
In 2002, United Airlines filed for bankruptcy. This event became relevant again in 2008 when a related news article was mistakenly resurfaced as current news, causing a temporary drop in the company's stock value.
March 2005: Agence France-Presse Sues Google
Agence France-Presse (AFP) filed a lawsuit against Google in March 2005 for US$17.5 million, alleging copyright infringement due to the unauthorized use of AFP's content on Google News. Google countered with mentioning their opt-out option, which AFP had not exercised.
November 2005: Google News Integrates with Google Search History
In November 2005, Google News integrated with Google Search History. This integration allowed for personalized news recommendations based on user search history and clicked articles (provided users had opted into Search History). While previously users could customize sections and layout with a drag-and-drop interface, this feature was disabled on the US site in favor of a new layout planned for other locations.
June 6, 2006: Google News Expands with News Archive Search
On June 6, 2006, Google News expanded its service with the introduction of the News Archive Search. This feature provided access to historical news archives dating back over two centuries, sourced from select publishers. A timeline view was also introduced, allowing users to browse news from specific years.
February 2007: Google-Copiepresse Judgement
On February 13, 2007, the Google-Copiepresse judgement stated that Google's caching of webpages and linking to them infringed upon reproduction and communication rights. Additionally, the court deemed Google's reproduction of article excerpts without commentary ineligible for exceptions related to criticism or review.
August 2007: Google Partners with News Agencies
Starting in August 2007, Google began hosting news from multiple agencies, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), Press Association, and the Canadian Press.
2007: Belgian Court Ruling Against Google News
A Belgian court ruled in 2007 that Google infringed copyright and database rights by displaying lead paragraphs from French-language Belgian news sources and caching full articles. As a consequence, Google removed these publications from Google News and its main search index.
September 7, 2008: United Airlines Stock Briefly Plummets Due to Archived Article Resurfacing
On September 7, 2008, an error in Google News indexing caused a 2002 Chicago Tribune article about United Airlines' bankruptcy filing to reappear as current news on the Sun-Sentinel website. This led to a temporary but significant drop in United Airlines' market value, estimated at US$1 billion. The incident highlighted the potential impact of archived articles being mistakenly presented as current news.
September 8, 2008: Google News Adds Indexed Content from Scanned Newspapers
On September 8, 2008, Google News broadened its reach by including indexed content from scanned newspapers. The extent of historical coverage varied depending on the publication, with some archives, like the New York Times, available from its inception in 1851.
December 1, 2009: "First Click Free" Policy Change
On December 1, 2009, Google revised the "first click free" policy. The change limited users to five free articles per day per publisher to prevent potential abuse and protect publishers' interests.
December 23, 2009: Google Stops Carrying Associated Press Content
On December 23, 2009, Google News ceased displaying content from the Associated Press (AP), ending a payment arrangement where Google paid for AP content that wasn't archived permanently.
2010: Google Removes Direct Access to Archive Search
In early 2010, Google removed direct access to the News Archive Search from its main News page, advanced news search, and default search results. While these pages continued to claim coverage of "Any time," they effectively limited results to recent news, excluding the archive.
May 2011: Google Cancels Newspaper Scanning Project, Focuses on "Google One Pass"
In May 2011, Google halted its newspaper scanning project, having already digitized around 60 million pages. The company shifted focus to "Google One Pass," a platform allowing publishers to sell content and subscriptions directly from their websites.
May 2011: Belgian Court Upholds Ruling Against Google
The Belgian court upheld its prior ruling against Google in May 2011, rejecting Google's legal defenses.
August 2011: Google Removes "News Archive Advanced Search" Functionality
In August 2011, the "News Archive Advanced Search" feature was entirely removed. This action sparked further user dissatisfaction, with many finding the service significantly diminished. Although archival newspaper articles remained accessible through the Google News Search page, essential features like the timeline view and the option to display more than 10 results per page were removed.
2013: Ancillary Copyright Introduced in Germany
Ancillary copyright for press publishers was enacted in Germany in 2013 following lobbying from news sources.
October 2014: German Publishers Grant Google License
In October 2014, some German publishers, who had previously claimed snippets were illegal, gave Google free licenses after Google removed them from their services.
September 2015: Google News Further Expands Language Support
As of September 2015, Google News extended its language support to encompass 35 languages, including Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.
September 29, 2015: "First Click Free" Policy Revised Again
The "first click free" policy was further adjusted on September 29, 2015, lowering the daily free article limit from five to three.
June 2017: Major Redesign of Google News Desktop Version
A complete redesign of the desktop Google News platform was rolled out in June 2017. The redesign aimed at improved news accessibility and navigation, with a focus on factual reporting, diverse viewpoints, and greater user control. Some features such as search tools were removed which negatively impacted searching. This update marked a shift from the traditional search results page look by grouping related stories using a card format, and removing text snippets and blue links.
October 2017: "Flexible Sampling" Model Replaces "First Click Free"
Google transitioned from "first click free" to a "flexible sampling" model in October 2017, empowering publishers to determine how many free articles, if any, they would offer.
2017: Briefing on Ancillary Copyright
In 2017, a briefing presented to the European Commission on ancillary copyright for press publishers indicated that many platforms did not infringe on database rights because the criteria were too strict, with no known cases won by publishers.
October 2020: Google News Launches "Showcases" Program
In October 2020, Google launched its "Showcases" program, a paid news curation initiative. Publishers were paid to create featured news content, displayed in branded panels on Google News and Discover. In some instances, Showcases provided free access to content normally behind paywalls. Initial launch countries included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The Australian launch coincided with the implementation of the country's News Media Bargaining Code, which Google asserted the program complied with.
2020: Google News Invests $1 Billion in Showcases
In 2020, Google dedicated US$1 billion to collaborate with publishers on the creation of Showcases. Showcases introduced a fresh approach to presenting in-depth feature stories.
June 2023: Google Secures Licensing Agreements
By June 2023, Google had finalized copyright licensing agreements with 1,500 publications to comply with the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.
