Some American firms have snubbed the Danes entirely, said the publisher, pointing to the frosty reaction they had received from the cohort of American AI superstar firms have emerged in the past 18 months.
The DPCMO is suing OpenAI for breach of copyright after the firm walked away from negotiations, in what Rønde described as a decision to snub the Danish market. As for the discussions with Google, two sides remain “very far” from each other on price, a gap widened by a fundamental philosophical disagreement, according to the Danish publishing alliance.
In 2024, Google ran a set of tests of user interest in news content in Denmark and several other countries, concluding that removing such content had “no measurable impact” on search ad revenue. Those findings — along with the testing itself — have come under harsh criticism from Danish lawmakers.
The DPCMO is suing OpenAI for breach of copyright after the firm walked away from negotiations. | Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Meanwhile, publishers feel they are locked out of the algorithmic logic that determines their fate. “Their data is a black box,” Rønde said. “We don’t understand the methodology. When we ask questions, they do not actually answer them.”
Google maintains that its assessment of the economic value of news in Search was shared transparently and validated by Coalfire, a digital auditing firm.
In a bid to break the deadlock, the DPCMO proposed bringing in third parties to arbitrate the value of the content, suggesting Charles River Associates, a consultancy, or the European Commission itself. Google declined.