--- title: "Google News Plays Hardball With Spanish Newspaper Association" id: "26544" type: "post" slug: "google-news-plays-hardball-with-spanish-newspaper-association" published_at: "2014-12-16T20:44:04+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-16T13:15:09+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/12/16/google-news-plays-hardball-with-spanish-newspaper-association/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2014/12/16/google-news-plays-hardball-with-spanish-newspaper-association.md" excerpt: "An effort by Spain's main newspaper trade group to force Google to pay for the content it aggregates was meant to help buoy publishers struggling to turn traffic into profits. But it may have backfired, as Google shut down Google..." taxonomy_category: - "Advocacy" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Business" - "Google News" - "media law" - "newspaper" - "trade associations" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "Executive Team" taxonomy_persona: - "Executive Leadership" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Google News Plays Hardball With Spanish Newspaper Association ## An effort by Spain’s main newspaper trade group to force Google to pay for the content it aggregates was meant to help buoy publishers struggling to turn traffic into profits. But it may have backfired, as Google shut down Google News in Spain on Tuesday. There’s no better way to put this: Spain’s largest newspaper association is in a bit of a pickle. And that pickle starts and ends with Google News, a service that could best be described as a “frenemy” of the newspaper industry. It’s a service that no longer exists in Spain; it was taken down Tuesday after Google found a new law untenable. And that’s causing some big headaches for the Association of Editors of Spanish Dailies (AEDE). More details: **A new law:** Recently, AEDE lobbied the Spanish government for a new law that required Google to pay for every snippet of content the company published on Google News. This has been tried in other countries, but the difference in Spain is that the law *requires* content be charged for by the media outlets, making it essentially impossible for Google to avoid making payments to publishers. The law, passed in November, [goes into effect January 1 (opens in a new tab)](https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2014/11/05/pdfs/BOE-A-2014-11404.pdf) [PDF]. **Taking their ball and going home:** In response to the law, Google announced that it would shut down Google News in Spain because the law would make it too expensive to continue operating. In a blog post, [Google News head Richard Gingras emphasized (opens in a new tab)](http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-update-on-google-news-in-spain.html) that he realized the site created issues for the news industry, but the law’s heavy-handed approach is not the solution. “This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not,” Gingras wrote. “As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable.” The company followed through on its threat Tuesday, [replacing the site with a support page (opens in a new tab)](https://support.google.com/news/answer/6140047#English) . **A call for intervention:** That turn of events wasn’t exactly welcomed by AEDE, which asked the Spanish government to intervene in an effort to keep the service online. “Given the dominant position of Google (which in Spain controls almost all of the searches in the market and is an authentic gateway to the Internet), AEDE requires the intervention of Spanish and community authorities, and competition authorities, to effectively protect the rights of citizens and companies,” the group said in a statement [translated by The Spain Report (opens in a new tab)](https://www.thespainreport.com/13199/spanish-newspaper-publishers-association-now-asks-government-help-stop-google-news-closure/) . The group says that it’s been willing to negotiate with Google, but suggests that the company “has not taken a neutral stance” in negotiations. One question, however, is how effective this law will be in the long run. [The New York Times notes (opens in a new tab)](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/google-to-drop-its-news-site-in-spain/) that social media, not aggregators, are increasingly driving most of the shares, making the decade-old Google News much less relevant now than it was just a few years ago. (iStock Editorial/Thinkstock) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Tags: [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/) [#Google News](https://associationsnow.com/tag/google-news/) [#media law](https://associationsnow.com/tag/media-law/) [#newspaper](https://associationsnow.com/tag/newspaper/) [#trade associations](https://associationsnow.com/tag/trade-associations/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [VideoThe Career Moves Every Association Leader Needs Right NowSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/the-career-moves-every-association-leader-needs-right-now/) - [VideoUrban Land Institute- Project Recovery: Rebuilding Los Angeles After the January 2025 WildfiresSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/urban-land-institute-project-recovery-rebuilding-los-angeles-after-the-january-2025-wildfires/) - [VideoNCRA: Safeguarding Cancer Surveillance: An Advocacy Response to FY26 Budget ThreatsSeptember 24, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/09/24/ncra-safeguarding-cancer-surveillance-an-advocacy-response-to-fy26-budget-threats/) - [VideoASAE Legislative Summit 2026March 26, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/03/26/asae-legislative-summit-2026/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2014%2F12%2F16%2Fgoogle-news-plays-hardball-with-spanish-newspaper-association%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !