Google has reported the outcomes of an experiment it ran which eliminated information from search outcomes for 1% of customers for two.5 months in eight* markets in Europe — claiming the outcomes present that information is basically nugatory to Google’s advert enterprise.

The search big performed the check as a result of European copyright legislation requires it to pay information publishers for reusing snippets of their content material. However how a lot is displaying information price? Google argues that publishers “vastly overestimate” the worth of their journalism to its enterprise; per its report of the assessments, the precise worth “couldn’t be statistically‬‭ distinguished from zero, both general or by nation.”

Google can be hoping to make use of this end result as leverage in cost negotiations with European publishers. However the tech big is strolling a tough line, because it has already confronted major antitrust fines in France in recent times in relation to information content material. Specifically, it was fined greater than half a billion {dollars} over its approach to copyright negotiations with publishers, particularly.

Germany’s competitors authority has dialled up scrutiny of components of Google’s conduct round information — and forced the company to make changes. So any strikes by Google to attempt to undercut the impact of the EU copyright legislation by claiming information is nugatory might land it in additional regulatory sizzling water.

Certainly, the corporate had initially included customers in France within the information ablation assessments however deserted this portion of the experiment after a French court docket warned it might be fined for breaking a previous settlement with the antitrust authority. Notably, Google additionally didn’t run the check in Germany.

* Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain