The French competition authority imposed a heavy fine on the internet giant for distributing protected content. Google was disappointed with the decision.
France’s competition authorities have fined Google € 500 million in the dispute over copyright. The Internet giant did not negotiate honestly with publishers in France, the competition authority quoted its president Isabelle de Silva in a statement on Tuesday.
Google has refused to discuss the remuneration for the current use of protected content and, among other things, has violated the orders of the competition authorities from last April.
Google was disappointed with the decision. They have always negotiated honestly. However, the feedback will be taken into account and its offers adjusted, according to a letter from the group.
The agency also accused Google of failing to provide important information to its negotiating partners. They also excluded part of the press from the negotiations. Google, in turn, criticized the fact that the decision of the competition watchdog did not refer to the current state of negotiations, but primarily to talks between May and September 2020. The group referred, for example, to an agreement in principle with French publishers at the beginning of this year.
In addition to the fine, Google now has to present publishers and press agencies with an offer to remunerate protected content within two months and inform the authorities accordingly. Otherwise there is a fine of up to 900,000 euros per day of delay.
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