A Content Creator Accused Google of Stealing their Content and Google Responded Quickly

In a surprising turn of events, a publisher accused Google of stealing its content. The publisher came to X to discuss that Google was using their content in the search result, including all the photos, without mentioning the original owner of the content. But Google didn’t sit silent on this issue and came forward with its own response. The owner of the original content showed details about instances where Google was using their content, especially in branded and site searches. Even if the users search “Mexico Travel Tips' ', Google was showing results that were exact copy of original content, including stolen photos. The publisher was angry and asked Google about all the legal measures and how stealing someone's content is categorized as competition.

Like how is it legal for Google to just essentially create entire blog posts from creators' content and images?

I literally have a law degree from the top law school in the world, and even I can't figure it out!

Fair use does NOT apply if you're using the content to compete…

— Nate Hake (@natejhake) December 20, 2023

Danny Sullivan, Google's SearchLiaison, responded to all these allegations with an explanation of the situation. Sullivan acknowledged the problem faced by the publisher of the original content creator and assured him that he would tell the Google team about his feedback so they can start sorting out this problem. He also mentioned that when the creator’s content comes up in the result, a link is also added there which takes users to the original webpage. He also said that he personally dislikes the preview-to-click feature that makes a picture only if the user clicks on it and helps users decide if an image is relevant to their search query.

Hey Nate, this got flagged to my attention. I'll pass along the feedback to the team. Pretty sure this isn't a new feature. Elsewhere in the thread, you talk about it being an AI answer, and I'm pretty sure that's not the case, either. It's a way to refine an initial query and… pic.twitter.com/rO2dyaISbT

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 20, 2023

I appreciate your thoughts and concerns. I do. The intention overall is to make search better, which includes ensuring people do indeed continue to the open web -- because we know for us to thrive, the open web needs to thrive. But I can also appreciate that this might not seem…

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 20, 2023

Sullivan also said that he understands the importance of supporting content creators, especially on Google, and ensured that he will work hard to make content more thriving on open web. He promised that he will share all the problems and concerns with the search team of Google and they will review how the features of Google can help the users feel supported. He said that your content ranking on Google’s top results is also a form of google supporting content creators. This whole discussion on X was a great example for people about fair use of their legal rights and also highlighted the feelings of publishers when Google uses their content.

Photo: DIW-AI-gen

Read next: Injustice Amplified - HRW Exposes Meta's Pervasive Censorship of Palestine Content
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World