--- title: "Amid Brutal Media Layoffs, Google “Tests” Deleting News Tab" description: "This week, Google's News tab suddenly disappeared from Search. Backdrop that with layoffs and AI, and behold: fresh media industry anguish." date: "2024-02-24" modified: "2024-02-24" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/google-tests-deleting-news-tab" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" - "Google" tags: - "ai" - "Google" - "journalism" --- # Amid Brutal Media Layoffs, Google “Tests” Deleting News Tab ![This week, Google's News tab suddenly disappeared from Search. Backdrop that with layoffs and AI, and behold: fresh media industry anguish.]() *\Image: Cesc Maymo via Getty / Futurism\* Google's News tab suddenly disappeared for many users this week, a [Thursday *Nieman Labs* report revealed](), sparking a fresh round of existential dread in the journalism industry. Between new rounds of [mass]() [layoffs]() and [worrisome AI search integrations](), the media is already riddled with deep anxieties about its future in a changing digital environment. In other words, it felt like Google was kicking the journalism industry while it was down — by first making itself an unavoidable source of readership and then suddenly rescinding that visibility at the exact moment that it hurts the most. In an emailed statement, a Google spokesperson told *Futurism* that the search giant does "not have plans to remove" the News tab. The spokesperson cryptically chalked the tab's disappearance up to an "effort to better understand the preferences of our users," which involved "testing different ways to show filters on Search." As a result, they continued, a "small subset of users were temporarily unable to access some of them." Even so, the reaction to the tab's brief disappearance seemingly highlights the fast-bubbling tensions between publishers and search companies, as platforms like Google and Bing — not to mention new and [very well-funded]() AI search startups like the Perplexity "answer engine" — threaten the digital media industry's largely traffic-based business model with new text-generating AI search functions. Throw [massive]() [industry layoffs]() and [degrading, AI-scrambled search results]() into the mix, and it's safe to say that a missing News tab isn't exactly settling the journalism world's stomach. https://twitter.com/SarahScire/status/1760372512654074349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1760372512654074349%7Ctwgr%5E51f44a9e2314bebd28147f069a29a4a15c8de411%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.niemanlab.org%2F2024%2F02%2Fwhy-is-the-news-tab-missing-from-some-google-search-results%2F According to the *Nieman*'s Sarah Scire, the News tab seemingly [started vanishing on Wednesday]() and continued its disappearing act through Thursday, prompting a range of confused — and in some cases deeply annoyed — responses from apparent test subjects. "Anyone else seeing the News tab completely gone from Google search results?" Meta's Tom Gara [tweeted]() mid-morning on Thursday. "Maybe I'm part of a test group or something." "I've been in the 'no News tab' Google test group," *CBS News* social media director Brandon Wall [added]() later that day, "and I do NOT like." Again, Google is maintaining that there are no plans to eliminate its News function. (It also noted in its statement that the feature should now be back online for all Search users.) And to that end, it's hard to imagine that they'd do away with the News filter during a fast-barrelling and hugely consequential election cycle. Still, there's a general sense that Google's stewardship of its News products has left much to be desired as its platforms promote garbage clickbait and even [AI-plagiarized material](). It's easy to wonder: could Google be looking to get out of the news business entirely? And in a bigger sense, AI search integrations have pushed the oft-trepidatious relationship between publishers and search engines into a [new realm of uncertainty]() — especially considering that to power these AI integrations, search companies will continue to rely on the work of journalists, who may or may not receive fair compensation as their work is [guzzled up and paraphrased by AI models](). And when you backdrop these controversial AI efforts with the [overall eroding quality of the platforms]() and broader industry woes, you have a perfect recipe for escalating distrust. The vibes, as they say, are *way* off. **More on Big Tech and journalism:** [*Former Google News Director Admits Big Tech Is Killing Journalism*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()