Google on Thursday agreed to pay some media groups in Australia, Brazil and Germany for high-quality content, expecting to do more deals with others.
The U.S. internet giant has for years tried to fend off demands for payment from news publishers worldwide in return for using their content.
“Today, we are announcing a licencing programme to pay publishers for high-quality content for a news experience launching later this year,” Brad Bender, Google’s Vice-President for News, said in a blogpost.
“We will start with publishers in a number of countries around the globe, with more to come soon,” he said.
Bender said Google would also offer to pay for free access for users to read paywalled articles on a publisher’s site where available.
Publishers that will be paid for their content are Germany’s Der Spiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Zeit and Rheinische Post, Australian groups Schwartz Media, The Conversation and Solstice Media, and Brazil’s Diarios Associados and A Gazeta.
