Google to pay $40.2m to South African news outlets for reducing content visibility

Google has agreed to pay more than $40 million to support South African news media after an inquiry from the country’s Competition Commission (CompCom) found that the company reduced search engine monetisation opportunities that traditionally sustained these news outlets.

CompCom disclosed the payment agreement in a final report detailing the inquiry and its findings, published on Thursday.

According to the report, the inquiry found that Google, among major global platforms like Meta and Microsoft, dominates key gateways through which South Africans access information.

The inquiry noted that the tech giant maintains a dominant position, where news represents 5-10 percent of queries and drives user engagement that is monetised through commercial advertising.

“Google does however not compensate South African media for the news content it displays or summarises. Referral traffic to media websites has declined sharply as users increasingly consume AI-generated summaries or remain on Google’s own platforms,” the report said.

“Furthermore, Google’s algorithmic structure tends to favour large foreign outlets over local or vernacular media, deepening inequality in content visibility and advertising reach.

“The SABC relies heavily on YouTube for content distribution but earns minimal revenue-share compensation.

“Social media algorithms also foster the spread of misinformation and disinformation by promoting sensationalist material over credible sources, imposing social costs that the media must absorb in combating fake news.”

As such, CompCom said it reached an agreement with Google and YouTube after “extensive engagement and two months of negotiations” to finalise a “comprehensive package of remedies designed to restore fairness, transparency, and sustainability in South Africa’s media ecosystem”.

Central to the outcomes is the $40.2 million support package (688 million rands), which is expected to fund national, community, and vernacular media through a combination of content licensing, innovation grants, and capacity-building initiatives.

Under the agreement, Google will also introduce new user tools to prioritise local news sources, provide technical assistance to improve website performance, share enhanced audience data, and establish an African News Innovation Forum.

CompCom said it also found that Microsoft exhibited a similar foreign bias through its MSN service, by contracting relatively few South African publishers.

Owing to the engagements, Microsoft will now extend its MSN news contracts to include five additional national publishers, the report added.