Last Updated on March 27, 2024 by Ranking
On Wednesday, French regulators announced that Google will be fined 250 million euros ($272 million) for violating its commitments to pay media companies for using their content online and utilizing it for its AI chatbot without informing them. The tech giant, along with other online platforms, has been accused of profiting from news without adequately compensating those who create it. To address this issue, the EU introduced a copyright called “neighbouring rights” in 2019, which allows print media to demand payment for the use of their content. France has been a testing ground for these rules, and after initial reluctance, both Google and Facebook agreed to pay French media for articles displayed in web searches. In 2019, organizations representing French magazines and newspapers filed a case with France’s Competition Authority. Two years later, the watchdog imposed a fine of 500 million euros on Google for not negotiating in good faith. In 2022, the authority accepted Google’s commitments to negotiate fairly with news organizations. As part of the agreement, the US tech giant must provide news groups with a transparent payment offer within three months of receiving a copyright complaint. However, the regulator stated on Wednesday that Google will be facing a new fine for “failing to comply with commitments made in 2022” and not negotiating in “good faith” with news publishers. The tech giant also used content from press agencies to train its artificial intelligence platform, Bard (now known as Gemini), without informing them or the authority, the regulator revealed. Additionally, Google did not provide publishers and news agencies with a technical solution to object to the use of their content, which “hindered” their ability to negotiate compensation, the watchdog added. As part of the settlement process, Google agreed to “not dispute the facts” and proposed “a series of corrective measures” in response to the identified failings. Other European Union countries have also raised concerns about Google’s use of news content. Last year, Spain’s competition watchdog launched an investigation into Google for alleged anti-competitive practices affecting news agencies and press publications. In 2022, Germany’s antitrust regulator discontinued its investigation into Google’s News Showcase service after the tech giant made “significant adjustments” to address competition concerns.
