Google to pay publishers $1 bn

Alphabet Inc.’s Google will start paying select media outlets to display curated content on its news app in a concession to the industry which has accused the search engine and other tech giants of unfairly using content for years.

The company has set aside more than $1 billion to cover the programme’s first three years, and will extend the program beyond that, Google said in a statement on Thursday. The search giant will pay publishers to provide blurbs for its news app and to give readers free access to certain paywalled articles, Google said.

The Google News Showcase product, which launches Thursday in Brazil and Germany, will display branded story panels curated by partner publishers, allowing them to highlight their content using timelines, bullets and related news articles. Panels will also link directly to the news publisher’s website, Google said.