Google threatens to block Australian users from accessing its search service unless the government changes the proposed legislation to allow the Internet giant to pay for news media content.
- According to the French antitrust agency, Google ignored the 2020 decision to display article snippets on its news service in good faith negotiations with publishers
- In response to the R8.6 billion fine, Google stated that it “acted in good faith throughout the process.”
- Google was ordered to receive a new request from the publisher within two months, otherwise it would face a fine of up to 900,000 euros per day.
Google was fined 500 million euros (approximately 8.6 billion rand) in France because the search giant failed to comply with an order to reach a fair agreement with publishers to use its news content on its platform.
Autorité de la concurrence said on Tuesday that the Alphabet division ignored the 2020 decision in good faith negotiations to display snippets of articles on its Google News service. This fine is France’s second largest antitrust fine against a single company.
“The 500 million euro sanction takes into account the unusual severity of the observed violations,” said Isabel de Silva, the president of the French agency.
A spokesperson said that Google was “very disappointed” by the decision and believed that it was “in good faith throughout the process.” Google added that it is about to reach an agreement with Agence France-Presse, which includes a global licensing agreement.
Google can appeal the penalty announcement on Tuesday.
The confrontation between Google and newspaper owners and telecommunications services has a long history. For more than a decade, European publishers have been urging regulators to crack down on Google’s power, which has attracted billions of euros in advertising revenue. In 2019, groups representing newspapers and magazines and AFP filed complaints in France.
Tuesday’s fine is the latest demonstration of the strength of the French regulator as it competes with the European Union and German regulators to become the region’s toughest regulator of American technology companies.
In recent years, the authorities have tended to order changes in behavior before the investigation ends, which may last for several years. Although this has prompted other antitrust agencies to follow this strategy, Google’s contempt may jeopardize it.
Earlier this year, Google reached an agreement to provide compensation to a group of French newspapers, Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale. Also held talks with the magazine owner and AFP.
But De Silva said that regulators consider the compensation provided by Google “insignificant.” She criticized the tech giant for being willing to pay for news content the same as dictionary listings or weather information.
As part of Tuesday’s decision, Google was ordered to enter into negotiations within two months of the new request made by the plaintiff’s press publisher, otherwise it would face a fine of up to 900,000 euros per day.
Google may face the risk of further attacks in news cases, because it is expected that French regulators will make a decision on the substance of the case at the end of the year, which may also include fines.
In recent years, Silicon Valley companies and Google have been facing strict censorship from France. The search engine agreed to pay a fine of 220 million euros last month to resolve its investigation into the core issue of its online advertising power, and was fined 150 million euros in a case focused on the Google Ads platform in 2019.
Last year, after the US company was criticized for reaching anti-competitive agreements with two distributors for the sale of non-iPhone products such as Apple’s Mac computers, the agency imposed a record 1.1 billion euro fine on Apple. Apple is appealing the penalty.
