Alongside the €500 million fine, Google could face additional €900,000 fines per day if it continues to not provide remuneration offers to various publishers in good faith.
France’s competition regulator has fined Google €500 million after it found the tech giant continued to not negotiate with publishers in good faith for using their content even after it was legally ordered to do so. In April last year, Autorité de la concurrence issued injunctions requiring Google to negotiate with publishers and news agencies the remuneration owed to them. The injunctions were made after several unions representing publishers lodged complaints against the company for abusing its dominant position and ignoring EU digital copyright laws. As part of those injunctions, Google was ordered to, within three months, conduct negotiations with publishers and news agencies on the remuneration for the re-use of their content in good faith and compliance with those laws. Despite being issued those injunctions, the Autorité found Google did not adhere to them and continued to refuse, on several occasions, to have specific discussions on the remuneration owed to publishers for the content shown on its Showcase platform. In a press release detailing the investigation, the Autorité said Google refused to include certain content included in publications as part of the negotiation discussions, which prevented publishers from being able to conduct neutral negotiations. The French regulator explained that Google believes only advertising revenue from Google Search pages displaying content should be taken into account to establish the remuneration due.
