A lobby group of Spanish publishers has asked the country's government to stop Google News from being shut down. Last week Google said it would close its news service after Spain introduced new intellectual property laws that would have forced Google to pay royalties for links to news websites.
Now the Association of Editors of Spanish Dailies (AEDE), the same lobby group that campaigned for the new laws to be introduced, is asking the Spanish government to stop Google News from closing.
In a statement issued to The Spain Report, AEDE said that the search giant had not taken "a neutral stance" and said that it was still "open to negotiations with Google". The new legislation means aggregator services such as Google News will be charged to show snippets of content from news publishers. Failure to comply could lead to a fine of up to
€600,000 (£476,000).
AEDE, apparently concerned about the imminent shuttering of Google News, said it required the intervention of the Spanish authorities to "protect the rights of citizens and companies". It said that the decision would "undoubtedly have a negative impact on citizens and Spanish businesses".
Google plans to close its news service in Spain on 16 December. In a statement issued last week Google News' Richard Gingras said that company had no choice but to shut up shop in Spain. "As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable. So it's with real sadness that on 16 December (before the new law comes into effect in January) we'll remove Spanish publishers from Google News, and close Google News in Spain,"
Gingras explained.
It remains to be seen if AEDE's last-minute plea will lead to a compromise being reached.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
