German Government Asks Users to Boycott Google
Google and Germany's government are clashing because of a proposed law that would prevent Google from publishing more than just a headline link to journalistic content.
The currently discussed law suggests changes to Germany's copyright law that would enable large publishers to charge Google for the common first sentence or paragraph of an article that appears in search results.
Google Germany has reacted with a video ("Defend your Net") that encourages users to voice their opinion against the proposed law as it would threaten a user's ability to find content. The video ends with the statement
For more than 10 years you can find everything that moves you.
A proposed law is designed to change that.
Do you want that?
Get involved.
Germany's government, however, believes that Google isn't playing fair and basically asked people in Germany to boycott Google. In a tweet, Secretary of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger wrote that "there are other search engines than Google". The BDZV und VDZ, which represent Germany's print and online publishers as industry organizations, accused Google to use "perfid methods" to create fear among consumers and described Google's video as "slander".

Its hard to really be on the side of govermnets that "allowed" the world to become such a mess.
Its hard to really be on the side of govermnets that "allowed" the world to become such a mess.
how much of a news article do you need to read to get the big picture? they think that the first like to paragraph is enough, and because of that think people wont click the link to their site.
i get it, but i think its VERY stupid.
there are legitimate complaints about google... but most of the major ones are so stupid...
oh no, a robot saw a word in my email, and gave me an ad that goes along with that word, how dare they.
but fact is, all those emails are already going through them
oh no, they track my web habits, OH NO
and i say so what? again its all about the ads, and making more money off targeted ads its not invasive, and its hardly wrong. tell me this is a major issue once dumpster diving a hospital/doctors office for social security numbers is no longer a thing.
And I thought only Apple were pigs.
No need for google to waste their time on idiotic countries where they give companies the ability to reach more people (via search hits) and then have to pay for it, despite that!
If anything it should have been the other way around(if google wasn't ad-supported)!
No need for google to waste their time on idiotic countries where they give companies the ability to reach more people (via search hits) and then have to pay for it, despite that!
If anything it should have been the other way around(if google wasn't ad-supported)!
Yeah, 'Murica.
- The minister in question isn't "[The] German Government"
- A newspaper (who is affected by the proposed legislation) ran with that tweet to generate a headline "Minister indirectly calls for Google boycott"
- The tweet itself is subject to interpretation, and from the context I would interpret it as "not only google is affected by this law, other search engines are aswell", since it contains a link to a short governmental FAQ that adresses some of those issues.
However, if they make any money from or because of the third party content available on their site/services, they should have to pay an adequate share to those who delivered "google's content". The one who does the work should get (at least part of) the monetary benefits (if there are any).
I'm not in the government (lying).
The military is government. Or is it? It's funny cuz my oath talks about tyrannical government as well. Part of my job is loyalty to the public and to keep an eye on Uncle Sam. I think politicians forget this.