> in Germany, Axel Springer SE, the country’s top publisher, had to scrap a move to block Google from running snippets of articles from its newspapers because t

> in Germany, Axel Springer SE, the country’s top publisher, had to scrap a move to block Google from running snippets of articles from its newspapers because traffic to its sites plunged. I think that says it all. They are getting paid: in traffic. If they aren't okay with that there are already means at their disposal, like the robot exclusion protocol, or even putting their content behind a paywall where robots can't get at it.