Google News seems to be testing placing a header above news sources in the Google News follow interface, that says “how these stories are ranked.” I personally cannot replicate it, but some are able to see it.

Punit posted a screenshot of this on Mastodon and it reads, “How these stories are ranked.” It then goes on to say:

I believe the learn more link goes here.

Here is that screenshot:

Here is what I see when I go to that page (please click “follow” while you are there).

I am not sure why Google is placing this ranking disclaimer on this page.

Forum discussion at Mastodon.

Update: Some clarity from Google on this:

Google wrote there, “Some publishers could have a contractual agreement with Google to allow licensed use of their article content; this doesn’t affect article ranking. Your having a subscription to a paid content provider does raise that publisher’s content ranking.”