French regulators have imposed a hefty fine of €250 million on Google for failing to adhere to previous commitments regarding payments to media companies. The fine stems from a dispute over payments to publishers for the display of their content in search results, following the implementation of a copyright law in 2019.
In response to the long-standing issue, France's competition authority, the Autorité de la Concurrence, had issued injunctions against Google in 2020. Subsequently, in the following year, Google was fined €500 million for non-compliance. Google then proposed a set of commitments, which were accepted by the authority, with Accuracy appointed as a monitoring trustee to oversee their implementation.
However, the ADLC has now determined that Google failed to fulfill four out of the seven commitments. The company was found to have not negotiated in good faith within the specified three-month period, using non-transparent and discriminatory criteria. It also did not provide necessary information to press agencies and publishers for assessing due payments transparently.
The French authority expressed concerns over Google Bard, an AI launched by the company, which was found to have used content from press agencies and publishers without their notification. Google was also criticized for not offering a technical solution for press agencies and publishers to opt out of the AI's use of their content without affecting other Google services.
Google has accepted the findings and proposed measures to address the breaches. Despite agreeing to comply, the company expressed dissatisfaction with the fine, deeming it disproportionate to the identified shortcomings. Google emphasized its commitment to working constructively with French publishers and connecting users with quality content.
While the regulatory landscape around the use of news content in AI services remains unsettled, the French authority's ruling underscores the importance of transparency and fair negotiations between tech giants and media entities.
