This post was originally published on The Washington Informer
By Stacy M. Brown
A study released by Columbia University’s Institute for Policy Dialogue has made the case that Google owes U.S. publishers a staggering $10-12 billion each year for using news snippets and headlines in its search results.
Through their findings, authors Dr. Patrick Holder (The Brattle Group), Dr. Haaris Mateen (University of Houston), Dr. Anya Schiffrin (Columbia University) and Dr. Haris Tabakovic (The Brattle Group) propose that Google should distribute 17.5% of its search revenue to publishers annually, challenging the tech giant’s current practices.
The research, which delves into cooperative bargaining dynamics, estimates that Facebook parent company Meta owes U.S. publishers just under $2 billion annually, or 6.6% of its ad revenue, according to the same calculations. The bold claims have sparked a heated debate between industry stakeholders, with Google staunchly rejecting the study’s methods and findings.