Google criticized for anticompetitive behaviour

U.S.-based News Media Alliance recently released a White Paper How Google Abuses Its Position as a Market Dominant Platform to Strong-Arm News Publishers and Hurt Journalism, which it has submitted to the Department of Justice as that body investigates Google’s anticompetitive behaviour. Based on more than a hear of interviews and consultations, the paper outlines several ways in which Google uses news content to its advantage across its products and services.

Recommendations from the report include the following:

• Antitrust scrutiny through the current investigations and remedies that address the abuses and impacts on news publishers.
• Passage of the safe harbor bill, also known as the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act, to allow news publishers to collectively negotiate for better business arrangements with the tech platforms.
• Compensation mechanisms that properly account for the value that platforms receive through original news content provided by established news organizations.
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The White Paper can be found on the Alliance website here.