The French antitrust regulator fined Alphabet’s Google 500 million euros ($593 million) for failing to completely comply with temporary copyright restrictions issued by the commission in a dispute with the country’s news publishers.
Within the next two months, Google must submit recommendations on how it would reimburse news agencies and other publishers for the usage of their copyright content.
If it does not comply, the Google might face daily fines of up to 900,000 euros.
Google expressed its disappointment with the decision.
“Throughout the process, “We have acted in good faith during the entire negotiation period. This fine does not reflect the efforts put in place, nor the reality of the use of news content on our platform, according to a Google spokesperson. “Google is the only business that has announced agreements on neighboring rights to date.”
“When the government imposes a requirement on a corporation, it must adhere to it strictly, both in spirit and in letter (of the decision). Unfortunately, this was not the case in this instance “Isabelle de Silva, the head of the antitrust commission, issued a statement.
Despite the seismic shift in advertising revenue online, the long-running legal battle has revolved around charges that Google has been showcasing articles, photos, and videos produced by media companies when displaying search results without proper compensation.
Under a recent European Union rule that established so-called “neighbouring rights,” news publishers APIG, SEPM, and AFP accuse Google of failing to initiate good faith talks with them to identify common ground for the compensation of news material online.
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