Germany: Google proposes measures to dispel Bundeskartellamt investigation into Google News Showcase

On 12 January 2022, Google has proposed measures to dispel the Bundeskartellamt’s competition investigation which was opened after a complaint by a number of German press publishers against the Google News Showcase online service. The service presents journalistic content of various publications to users in form of 'story panels', for which Google pays licensing fees. In particular, Google granted that it no longer plans to include Showcase content in the general search results and argues that the conditions for participating in Google News Showcase are based on objective criteria and are not intended to hinder the copyright enforcement by publishers. Moreover, Google declared to be available to modify the Showcase contracts and provide further clarifications. Consequently, the Bundeskartellamt will conduct consultations on the proposed measures with the complainants. On 4 June 2021, the Bundeskartellamt announced the opening of an investigation into 'Google News Showcase', a service provided by Google/Alphabet. The investigation is based on the new Section 19a of the German Competition Act, which allows the German Competition Authority to intervene earlier.