Google will pay over $40 million to support South African news media after the country’s Competition Commission (CompCom) found that the tech giant reduced the visibility and monetisation of local news content on its platforms, limiting referral traffic and favouring foreign outlets.
CompCom disclosed the payment agreement in a final report published Thursday, detailing its inquiry and findings. The report noted that Google, along with other global platforms like Meta and Microsoft, dominated key gateways through which South Africans access information.
While news accounts for just 5–10% of search queries, they drive user engagement that is monetised through advertising.
“Google does, however, not compensate South African media for the news content it displays or summarises. Referral traffic to media websites has declined sharply as users increasingly consume AI-generated summaries or remain on Google’s own platforms,” the report said.
It also highlighted that Google’s algorithms favoir large foreign outlets over local or vernacular media, deepening inequalities in visibility and advertising reach. The SABC, for example, relies heavily on YouTube for content distribution but earns minimal revenue-share compensation.
Social media algorithms, the report noted, also promote sensationalist content over credible news, creating social costs that local media must absorb to combat misinformation.
After two months of negotiations, CompCom reached an agreement with Google and YouTube to implement a “comprehensive package of remedies” aimed at restoring fairness, transparency, and sustainability in South Africa’s media ecosystem.
The $40.2 million (688 million rand) support package will fund national, community, and vernacular media via content licensing, innovation grants, and capacity-building initiatives. Google will also introduce user tools to prioritise local news, provide technical assistance to improve website performance, share enhanced audience data, and establish an African News Innovation Forum.
The report further noted that Microsoft showed similar foreign bias on its MSN platform but will now extend its MSN news contracts to include five additional national publishers.
