German media regulators are reviewing the Google News Showcase service to check whether the service has made its access conditions transparent in accordance with the State Media Treaty, the state media authorities said on Wednesday when asked by dpa.
The Google News Showcase portal, which has been offered by Google in Germany since the autumn of 2020, presents content from participating press publishers.
Several media companies had reportedly approached the state media authorities because they feared disadvantages for themselves.
Although the media regulators want to check the transparency of the service, they formally rejected four complaints from regional publishers who do not participate in the Google service.
According to the media regulators, the decisive factor was that the publishers had "not actively sought" to participate in the offer. "An obligation to actively invite Google does not exist here."
In addition, the media regulators see the service more as a media platform and not as a so-called media intermediary that merely provides content on its site.
The complaints had referred to a discrimination paragraph in the State Media Treaty, which applies to media intermediaries.
Only at the beginning of the month it became known that the Federal Cartel Office had initiated an antitrust investigation into the Google News Showcase service.
With News Showcase, Google enables publishers to place their content prominently on the web. The content providers receive financial compensation.
The amount of the remuneration and the further contractual provisions are treated confidentially by the parties involved.
The Google News Showcase was initially launched in Germany and Brazil in the autumn but it is now also available in other countries.
