More than 150 publishers in the United States have joined Google’s News Showcase program, a platform where news companies are paid for content by the search engine juggernaut.

Google in a blog post on Thursday said the United States this summer will join about 20 other countries where top publishers have accepted to provide content to be curated and featured on the News Showcase platform.

Google touts the News Showcase as a way to support a news industry that has seen its main source of revenue dwindle since advertisers left print media for search ads.

The search engine does not reveal how much it pays the news companies for their content.

The platform will include local outlets such as the Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota and Orlando Weekly in Florida, as well as larger new outlets such as the Associated Press, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.

Publishers for years have criticized Google and Facebook owner Meta for featuring news content on their platforms without paying for it.

A proposed law in California that would require internet giants to pay for news is under consideration, but Facebook owner Meta has threatened to pull news from its platforms if it passes.

In Australia, Facebook in 2021 briefly blocked news articles over a similar law and Google threatened to pull its search engine from the country before they made deals to pay several media groups.

In the European Union, tech giants can be asked to pay a copyright fee to publishers for links posted in search results or feeds.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month slammed Meta after executives said it would block news for Canadian Facebook and Instagram users in response to the proposed law there. AFP