INTERVIEW
The standoff is launched between Google and the press editors. Under a European directive transposed into French law, the American giant must pay back to the press titles a portion of the revenue generated through traffic born of coverings of news articles. Except that Google categorically refuses to pay any penny.
"It's not a question of money, it's a matter of principle," said Monday morning on Europe 1 Benedict Tabaka, director of institutional relations of Google France, whose voice is extremely rare in the media.
"It's a principle of how the search engine works," Benedict Tabaka said. "It's something that's very important to us, and when it comes to Google, it's safe to say that when it comes to search engines, it's safe to find relevant, reliable results. the best results that correspond with their research.From there, there is no financial exchange, no commercial transactions when it comes to appear in the search engine.We do not pay people for them to appear, and they do not pay us to appear, "he assured.
"News search results are not monetized"
So much for the principle. Except that in reality, Google, with Facebook, captures 80% of the advertising market on all screens - smartphone, tablet, computer. But according to Benoît Tabaka, the revenues generated are not so important. "Yes, the search engine is funded by advertising," he first admitted. "But today, out of 100 applications, only 2.65% are news items, so the vast majority of applications are not related to reality, and in these 2.65% only 0.11%. show advertising, "detailed Director of Institutional Relations Google France, concluding:" Today, news-related research results are not monetized. "
And to believe it, press publishers should even thank Google. "A search engine not a classic platform that tries to keep the user at home, the goal is to get people to information," he said. "Every month, there are 8 billion clicks from Google to European publishers, from where the search engine sends traffic, the publisher receives this traffic and can monetize it via ads, subscriptions or other elements. "