In France, Google was fined 250 million euros for not having fulfilled several of its commitments concerning neighboring rights. The firm defends itself by denouncing a disproportionate sanction.
France is banging its fist on the table and Google is not happy. The Competition Authority has in fact imposed a fine of 250 million euros on the French subsidiary of the web giant. The reason: the firm is accused of “ not having respected certain commitments made obligatory “. The commitments in question concern a subject dating from 2019: neighboring rights.
This was a directive aimed at establishing a remuneration system for press sites (in particular) when Google displays extracts of articles and videos from these platforms. The Authority thus mentions the establishment of “ conditions for balanced negotiation between publishers, press agencies and digital platforms “.
Google accused of not keeping its commitments
Google therefore planned to reorganize the display of results in the News sections of its search engine. Then, in 2022, “ ruling on the merits of this case, the Authority accepted […] for a period of 5 years, renewable once, the commitments proposed by Google to put an end to the competition concerns expressed “.
And this is where it gets stuck. The Competition Authority criticizes Google for not having fulfilled four of the seven commitments for which the company had guaranteed. Thus, the multinational would not have taken the necessary measures to ensure “ negotiations in good faith […] and non-discriminatory » and would have failed in transmitting the necessary information to publishers and press agencies.
Furthermore, she would not have made enough effort. so that the negotiations do not affect other economic relations existing between Google and publishers or news agencies “.
The Google Bard artificial intelligence – which has since become Gemini – is also singled out. The Competition Authority accuses the tool of not offering press publishers the opportunity to oppose the use of their content by Bard.
A “disproportionate” fine: Google’s discontent
In the process, Google France published a press release in response to this sanction which it considers “ disproportionate “.
It does not take sufficient account of the efforts we have made to respond to the various comments – in an environment where it is very complicated to define a course of action when we cannot anticipate a precise direction.
Google France also defends itself by indicating that “ since the entry into force of the law, the absence of clear regulatory measures, and successive legal actions have complicated negotiations with publishers “.
Throughout its press release, Google points out certain points where it disagrees with the elements put forward by the Competition Authority. However, ” To guide future discussions, we will analyze the real economic value of news content in our services “, we read in the document.
The fine raises procedural points during negotiations over the past two years, which have involved a handful of publishers and publications. These criticisms target communication (some documents were sent a few days late) and a minimum remuneration threshold (which we have never applied). We have taken concrete steps to respond to these criticisms.
Finally, the firm calls above all for a clarification of what is asked of it, of the exact nature of the content that it must remunerate “ in order to establish a negotiation framework persistent “. Google thus suggests that the situation was still too vague until now.