250 million euros. This is the amount imposed by the Competition Authority on Google in the neighboring rights case, which concerns media remuneration. Already in 2021, the American company had received a fine of 500 million euros.
This is a new development in the context of neighboring rights, it is to the disadvantage of Google. The American company has just been the subject of a new sanction from the Competition Authority, this Wednesday March 20. The French institution has announced that it will impose a fine of 250 million euros on the internet giant.
This sum is intended to punish Google’s lack of rigor in the way the group respects the law on neighboring rights, and more particularly the ” non-compliance with some of its commitments made in June 2022. » In detail, four out of seven commitments have not been kept. In addition, Google was found to be uncooperative.
The breached commitments included:
- conducting negotiations in good faith, on the basis of transparent, objective and non-discriminatory criteria, within three months (two commitments);
- the transmission to the media (publishers or press agencies) of the information necessary for the transparent evaluation of their remuneration under neighboring rights (a commitment);
- taking the necessary measures so that the negotiations do not affect other existing economic relations between Google and publishers or news agencies (a commitment).
The American company is also criticized for “ have disregarded their commitment to cooperation with the agent » in charge of monitoring and controlling the implementation of the commitments made by Google with regard to the press — this is the Accuracy firm, approved by the Competition Authority for a period of five years.
Appointed in October 2022, the Accuracy firm’s tasks include regularly transmitting a situation update to the body, organizing meetings with Google to note the state of the negotiations and any difficulties, checking whether the commitments are being properly applied and discussing with all other parts.
A first fine of 500 million euros in 2021
This fine is the second in the dispute between Google and French press publishers. In July 2021, the Competition Authority already imposed a sanction of 500 million euros for having violated no fewer than four injunctions issued in April 2020. Complaints were made in November 2019 by the media.
Special feature of this new sentence: it integrates recent developments by Google on generative artificial intelligence, in particular Bard (which has since been renamed Gemini). Launched in July 2023, this new service was trained with “ content from publishers and press agencies, without notifying the latter or the Authority », Notes the authority.
“ Subsequently, Google [n’a pas proposé] technical solution allowing publishers and press agencies to object to the use of their content by Bard (‘opt-out’) without affecting the display of protected content. » For the authority, this “ hampered the ability of publishers and news agencies to negotiate remuneration. »
In this case, there will be no recourse from Google, because the company has “ committed not to dispute the facts », to benefit from the so-called transactional procedure. This makes it possible to contain the financial penalty within a certain range. Furthermore, notes the institution, Google has detailed the actions planned to get back on track.
Google calls for clarification of gray areas
Although there will be no appeal, Google reacted publicly on its blog, highlighting its good faith – licensing agreements have been signed with 280 French press publishers covering more than 450 publications – and the amounts already committed — several tens of millions of euros per year, according to the group.
The transactional procedure must make it possible to “ turn the page ” And ” focus on sustainable approaches to connect Internet users with quality content and work constructively with French publishers. » In essence, Google declares that it wishes to close this file and, we guess, to clean up relations with the media
Google, however, regrets that its efforts have not been sufficiently taken into account and, moreover, points to a media landscape which “ has continued to evolve over time, moving from general information publications to specialized publications. » This complicates, in his eyes, knowing who to pay and for what content.
“ Of course, we remain determined to apply French law. Our objective is to continue to support press publishers in France, but this is not done without difficulties », Warns the American company. And to conclude that to move forward, “ Now is the time to clarify who we should pay, and how. »
(updated with Google’s reaction)
Do you want to know everything about the mobility of tomorrow, from electric cars to e-bikes? Subscribe now to our Watt Else newsletter!