Google News Showcase is coming to the US this summer

Google announced Thursday that it is ready to launch the company long awaited news appNews Showcase, in the US later this summer.

The tech giant said in a news release that it is partnering with more than 150 news publications, about 90 percent of which are local organizations, for the launch. Organizations based in states like Louisiana, Illinois and California, as well as national outlets like the Associated Press and Reuters, partnered with Google for the News Showcase.

Google also said the launch of News Showcase is part of an effort to help local news organizations. As part of this effort, the Google News Initiative has partnered with five news associations to provide financial grants and training to nearly a thousand journalists across the US.

“Our goal is to help [local news organizations] build sustainable businesses, connect with readers and engage audiences,” Chris Jansen, head of local news and global partnerships at Google, wrote in the release. “We’re dedicated to supporting local newsrooms across the US.”

This new comes as more local and national governments

demand that online platforms such as Google and Meta share advertising revenue with media organizations. California lawmakers, for example, passed the Journalism Protection Act on June 1. The act would require platforms like Google and Meta to pay news organizations that share content on those platforms a percentage of advertising revenue.