Google (GOOG) is shutting down its news service is Spain on Dec. 16 due to legal reasons.
The decision to end Google News in Spain comes after a new law was passed that would allow newspapers to charge the search giant whenever their content shows up on its website. The new law will go into effect in January and also affects other news aggregating websites, reports The New York Times.
Google claims that the reason for the shutdown is that it will become too costly to run its news service in the country with the new law in place. It’s unknown how much it would be charged by newspapers, but an initial fee for not complying with the law sits at $750,000, NYT notes.
Google News got its start after one of the company’s engineers searched for “World Trade Center” after the 9/11 attacks and nothing came up. Since its creation, the service has expanded and is now available in 35 languages.
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