Publishers lobby EU to reduce Google’s internet search dominance

Publishers of newspapers and news media across Europe have adopted a resolution to lobby the EU and national governments to reduce Google’s internet search dominance and to reduce Vat on professionally produced news.

The European Newspaper Publishers Association (ENPA) urges all European governments to recognise fair competition and equal search as essential for a thriving media market. The ENPA believes the latest proposals by Google to settle its competition case with the EU do not go far enough and will allow the search giant continue to abuse its position.

ENPA president Ivar Rusda, said, if the EU were to allow Google to continue to discriminate in terms of how it ranks content, it would be a violation of core European values.

“If the European Commission were to legitimise Google’s ongoing anti-competitive activities, it would gravely undermine the future development and sustainability of the digital press sector in Europe. Fundamental European values, such as press freedom and citizens’ access to a diverse range of media, are at stake in this debate,” he said.

Delegates at the ENPA annual conference in Rome agreed a reduced Vat rate would help companies to develop new multimedia strategies.

Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali’s Dr Giulio Anselmi said, for a free press to thrive, it must be viable. “Press freedom and pluralism are possible only with free and viable publishing companies, operating in the context of market rules to strengthen the effectiveness of protection of copyright on the internet and allow reduced Vat rates to be applied to professionally published press content available on all formats.

“This in turn would strengthen the publishing companies themselves, their cost-effectiveness and their ability to develop and experiment with new forms of multimedia communication.”