Google has agreed to pay more than $40 million to support South African news media after an inquiry from the country’s Competition Commission (CompCom) found that the company reduced search engine monetisation opportunities that traditionally sustained these news outlets.
CompCom disclosed the payment agreement in a final report
detailing the inquiry and its findings, published on Thursday.
According to the report, the inquiry found that Google,
among major global platforms like Meta and Microsoft, dominates key gateways
through which South Africans access information.
The inquiry noted that the tech giant maintains a dominant
position, where news represents 5-10 percent of queries and drives user
engagement that is monetised through commercial advertising.
“Google does however not compensate South African media for
the news content it displays or summarises. Referral traffic to media websites
has declined sharply as users increasingly consume AI-generated summaries or
remain on Google’s own platforms,” the report said.
“Furthermore, Google’s algorithmic structure tends to favour
large foreign outlets over local or vernacular media, deepening inequality in
content visibility and advertising reach.
“The SABC relies heavily on YouTube for content distribution
but earns minimal revenue-share compensation.
“Social media algorithms also foster the spread of
misinformation and disinformation by promoting sensationalist material over
credible sources, imposing social costs that the media must absorb in combating
fake news.”
As such, CompCom said it reached an agreement with Google
and YouTube after “extensive engagement and two months of negotiations” to
finalise a “comprehensive package of remedies designed to restore fairness,
transparency, and sustainability in South Africa’s media ecosystem”.
Central to the outcomes is the $40.2 million support package
(688 million rands), which is expected to fund national, community, and
vernacular media through a combination of content licensing, innovation grants,
and capacity-building initiatives.
Under the agreement, Google will also introduce new user
tools to prioritise local news sources, provide technical assistance to improve
website performance, share enhanced audience data, and establish an African
News Innovation Forum.
CompCom said it also found that Microsoft exhibited a
similar foreign bias through its MSN service, by contracting relatively few
South African publishers.
Owing to the engagements, Microsoft will now extend its MSN
news contracts to include five additional national publishers, the report
added.
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