Google fights back in free content battle
Rupert Murdoch appears to have been successful in his aim to shakeup the online news market with news that search engine giant Google will be restricting access to "paid for content" on the company's news channel. Currently, users of Google News are able to access a variety of paid for content for free as long as they use the Google channel to read the articles. However, this is set to change in the short term.
Google will now restrict access to "paid for content" to possibly five articles a day after which point users will be redirected to a subscription page which will allow them to subscribe to various channels. This follows Rupert Murdoch's claim that Google was effectively making money from paid for content by allowing readers to view the material free of charge. Just a few days ago we also saw Johnston Press announce a trial which will see a number of local news websites restricted to subscribers only.
It appears as though the era of free content on the Internet is coming to a close but ultimately there will always be alternative routes to gain access to material and stories which are breaking in the regular press. Google News is a major part of the Google network and this is the first major blow the company has suffered for some time.
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