Limits set on Google News for free news content

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Christine

02 December, 2009

A user of Google News can only view five articles per day from a particular news website, after which they would be directed to its registration or payment page. Google has often been accused of swindling publishers' advertisment generated income

NEWS AVAILABLE online via Google, the premier search engine, would no longer be free. Newspaper publishers who supply online news content to Google on its news service Google News, have a set a limit for users to access free content and articles through the search engine, after which they would be asked to register with the news website or give some form of payment.

The announcement came via the Google News blog on Wednesday, December 2. According to it, a user of Google News can only view five articles per day from a particular news website, after which they would be directed to its registration or payment page.

With this announcement, it appears that Google has succumbed to the continuous pressure applied by these newspaper publishers, which have been reportedly led by News Corp, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch.

Josh Cohen, Senior business product manager, Google, has confirmed that the publishers have decided to either charge for their online content or remove their articles from Google altogether. Cohen explained that they can do so by using an updated program called ‘first click free’. This will limit users redirected from Google to five articles per publisher per day. The moment they click a sixth, a pop-up containing subscription or registration details would come up.