French regulators announced on Wednesday that they would impose a fine of 250 million euros ($272 million) on Google for violating an agreement regarding payment terms to media companies for using their content online.
The Competition Authority of France stated that the fine was issued due to Google’s failure to adhere to commitments made in 2022. The authority accused Google of not engaging in fair negotiations with news publishers regarding compensation for the use of their content.
Google, along with other online platforms, has faced criticism for profiting from news content without adequately sharing revenue with the content creators.
To address this issue, the EU introduced a copyright framework known as “neighbouring rights,” allowing print media to demand compensation for the use of their content.
France has been at the forefront of implementing these rules, and despite initial resistance, both Google and Facebook eventually agreed to compensate some French media for displaying articles in web searches.
In 2022, French regulators accepted commitments from Google to engage in fair negotiations with news organizations. According to the agreement, Google is required to provide transparent payment offers to news groups within three months of receiving a copyright complaint.
Various organizations representing French magazines, newspapers, and Agence France-Presse (AFP) filed a case with the regulator in 2019.
Google had strongly opposed the idea of paying for content, leading to a previous fine of 500 million euros ($530 million) in 2021 for failing to negotiate in good faith.
