Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt just revealed that he and President Francois Hollande of France have introduced two initiatives to “stimulate innovation and increase revenues for French publishers.”
The executive took to the official Google Blog on Friday to tout Google’s successes and reiterate how its products promote a vibrant news industry that is essential to the free society, and then he described how the new initiatives will further help.
“First, Google has agreed to create a €60 million Digital Publishing Innovation Fund to help support transformative digital publishing initiatives for French readers,” Schmidt explained. “Second, Google will deepen our partnership with French publishers to help increase their online revenues using our advertising technology.
In related news, Reuters also reported that Schmidt and Hollande signed a deal in regards to payment of media links:
Publishers in France and Germany argue that Google should pay them copyright licensing fees for listing headlines and snippets of articles in its search engine results. Hollande has said that without a deal, legislation would be drafted to ensure that media outlets receive payment from search engines that post links to their content.
Today’s announcements build on Google’s commitments made in 2011 to increase investment in France.
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