This week saw Google reducing its news division workforce by a minimum of 40 positions, as reported by CNBC. The firm has had to scale back in recent months to tackle a slowing growth rate and shaky economic atmosphere. The dismissals at Google News come at a time when large online platforms face mounting pressure to supply the public with genuine news about the Israel-Hamas dispute and Russia's conflict in Ukraine.
This week, CNBC learned of Google's job cuts in its news division, resulting in 40-45 workers losing their employment. When asked for confirmation, a Google spokesperson said there are still hundreds of people employed in the news product and that these internal changes have no impact on its misinformation and information quality work in News. The spokesperson added they are supporting all impacted with a transition period, outplacement services and severance.Google News is a go-to destination for users needing to find prominent stories on a particular subject. The layoffs come at a crucial moment when online platforms and publishers are faced with an increase in false information on the web, such as the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Senators and the European Union have questioned Google, Twitter, Meta, and TikTok on their efforts to prevent the spread of false news regarding these events.Google News is still heavily staffed, while other tech companies have expanded their content moderation teams to address this dilemma. Canada and other countries are pushing legislation that would force tech platforms to pay publishers for their work.At the beginning of 2021, Google announced their plans to downsize, resulting in 12,000 jobs cut from their full-time staff. And last month, Google eliminated hundreds of positions from its recruitment department. An engineer from Google News wrote on LinkedIn about the layoffs, noting that the people affected were some of the most talented and that their loss would result in the company being "definitely worse off".
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