Last week, Google promised to shut down Google News in Spain after a new Spanish law required them to pay licensing fees for content included in Google News.
Google has changed the Google News home page in Spain, which is at news.google.es to redirect to this help article.
We’re incredibly sad to announce that, due to recent changes in Spanish law, we have removed Spanish publishers from Google News and closed Google News in Spain. We understand that readers like you may be disappointed, too, and we want to share the reasons behind this decision.Google News is a free service, loved and trusted by hundreds of millions of users around the world and available in more than 70 international editions, covering 35 languages. It includes everything from the world’s biggest newspapers to small, local publications and bloggers. Publishers can choose whether or not they want their articles to appear in Google News -- and the vast majority choose to be included for very good reason. Google News creates real value for these publications by driving people to their websites, which in turn helps generate advertising revenues.
But sadly, as a result of a new Spanish law, we had to close Google News in Spain. This legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not. As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach was not sustainable.
We remain committed to helping the news industry meet challenges and look forward to continuing to work with our thousands of partners globally, as well as in Spain, to help them increase their online readership and revenues.
But it seems like you can still get to Google News in Spain. Go to google.es and do a search. Then click on the news tab and you'll not only see Google News results but also news from .es news sources:
Here is a screen shot:
Maybe Google is still working on pruning out the news tab from Google Spain and the news publishers in Spain as well?
@gfiorelli1 spotted this and said:
Dear @google, explain me what do u mean with "closing Google News" & "No Spanish newspapers listed. Cc: @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/g4G8aWLgrE
— Gianluca Fiorelli (@gfiorelli1) December 16, 2014Forum discussion at Twitter.
Update: In 2021, Google announced Google News is coming back to Spain, here is what it looks like before:
