Google agreed to pay millions for California news. Journalists call it a bad deal

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Journalists and industry experts are blasting a deal announced this week between the state of California and Google. Under the agreement, Google will pay up $110 million over the next five years to help keep local news organization afloat. Journalists see the agreement as a tactic for Google to avoid a mandatory fee under what could have been groundbreaking legislation. California lawmakers agreed to kill a bill requiring tech to support news outlets they profit from. The agreement comes as state government across the U.S. work to help struggling news organizations. Google says the deal will help both journalism and the AI sector in California.