Hosted AP content on hold in Google News
A deal between Google and the AP is set to expire in a few weeks, and in the event a new deal for hosting AP content isn't reached, Google has stopped adding new AP content.
Google has stopped adding news stories provided by the Associated Press into Google News, the latest move in a long-running spat between the two organizations.
As of December 23, Google stopped putting AP stories into Google News, although you can still read AP stories through Google News if the story was picked up by one of the AP's partners. Google confirmed earlier reports by Search Engine Land and Techcrunch that "at the moment we're not adding new hosted content from the AP."
The AP has been perhaps the highest-profile organization leading the fight against Google and Google News, time and time again accusing the search company of ripping off its content without fair compensation for news producers. However, the two have had a deal in place for several years to host AP content on Google Web pages.
That deal is believed to expire at the end of January, and as Search Engine Land notes, that makes sense given the timing of the last AP story added to the hosting queue. AP stories on Google News expire after 30 days, and so if Google and the AP were unable to reach a new deal by the end of January, the two sides could make a clean break without having to go back and erase any stories added in January.
The AP declined to comment on the nature of its deal with Google, or the ongoing negotiations.
