Google owes Swiss publishers millions

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What has been clear for the Federal Council since 2021 is: “Online platforms greatly benefit from the services of journalistic media.” That’s what a report said at the time. It would therefore be justified to compensate the journalistic media for their services.

The Federal Council is currently preparing a partial revision of the federal law on copyright and related property rights. The draft will be submitted for consultation shortly. This would also give Switzerland an auxiliary copyright that clearly states the protection of its journalistic achievements. So if a web platform reuses the articles, they are entitled to a fee.

Swiss media invaluable to Google

Against this background, the association Médias Suisses commissioned the consulting firm Fehr Advice and the University and ETH Zurich to carry out a study. These two versions of Google were presented – one with and without journalistic content. Result: 70 percent of 1,573 Swiss Internet users surveyed stated that they preferred the first version. From this it can be concluded that the existence of publications plays a crucial role in the success of a tech giant.

Interesting: The Swiss use search engines by far the most to obtain information (86 percent), followed by online media portals (50 percent), social media (40 percent), and print dailies and other media (29 percent). ) . Half of Internet users (53%) stay in the Google ecosystem: They do not click on links to external websites because the search engine responses are sufficient to satisfy their interest in the information, or because they continue to click on other Google services.

What is the value of journalistic products?

The media therefore provides content that positively enhances Google’s user experience, but often does nothing commercially as Google does not share the revenue generated on its platform with media companies. “We see a market failure here that needs regulation. The authors of the study say that Google is taking advantage of its monopoly position.

Currently, Google does not pay Swiss publishers any money to use the articles. But how much should Google pay? Based on the data, a value contribution of Swiss media to the Google ecosystem was calculated. The basis is the study, which found that Google’s market share in search engine-based advertising in Switzerland (Google sales with search advertising, approximately 1 billion Swiss Francs) and the media contributed significantly to positive search results in 70 percent of cases.

This results in a “fair share” which should be at least CHF 154 million.

Source :Blick