Having originally campaigned for lawmakers to change the way Google includes their content in its News service, German publishers have decided they will continue using it after all. The AP reports that German newspapers Bild, Die Welt, Spiegel Online and Zeit Online have all opted in for Google News aggregation following the introduction of a new copyright law on August 1st. Essentially, major German publishers will continue to push content to Google News, even though they intend to charge Google for the reproduction of their content in the future.

Publishers aren't sure what they want

In late 2012, Google settled with Belgian publishers after a six-year-long lawsuit, and reached a similar agreement in France. Germany became the first country to force Google to amend its news aggregation policies, requiring the company to opt-out publishers by default and give them the option to confirm whether they want their content to appear in News results. Google doesn't sell ads against News snippets and allows any website to opt-out of News aggregation by amending their website code but made the change due to the "legal uncertainty" surrounding the issue. For now, German publishers are wanting to have their cake and eat it, even if pushing for tighter restrictions on online content could damage their attempts to increase their online readership.