Google Launched an experiment to remove news from publishers in EU countries from the search engine, Google News And To discoverTo find out how much such changes will affect the traffic of news sites and how they will affect users. According to The Verge, the test will affect only 1% of users in nine EU countries (Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain).

The company said the test was temporary and was conducted at the request of EU regulators and publishers, who requested additional data on search results. After the experiment is over Google It promises to return articles from European news sites to searches. At the same time, during testing, users will continue to see content from publishers outside the EU.

At the end of the experiment, publishers will be able to estimate how much traffic they would lose without Google. At the same time, Google will be able to understand how interested users are in news in general. An example could be Facebookwhich previously reviewed this issue on its site and eventually removed the News tab and stopped paying publishers altogether.

It’s safe to say that Google’s relationship with news publishers and regulators in the EU has been tense for years. The company opposes legal requirements that require payment to publishers for news content. But as part of the European Copyright Directive, Google has been forced to settle deals with hundreds of publishers in Europe and was recently even fined $272 million for violating indemnification terms.

This test in the EU is reminiscent of recent actions by Google and other regions. In response to California’s journalism protection law, the company removed links to local news sources. Similar threats have been made against Canada, and in Australia Google nearly shut down its search engine due to similar legal requirements.