A Google spokeswoman said, “The fine ignores our efforts to reach an agreement, and the reality of how news works on our platforms.”
Photo: shannon stapleton/Reuters
PARIS—France’s Competition Authority fined Google $593 million for allegedly violating orders to negotiate paid deals with news publishers, raising pressure on the company in a global fight over how and whether tech companies should pay for news.
The French regulator said that Google had violated its 2020 orders that the Alphabet Inc. GOOG 0.76% company must negotiate with publishers for the right to show snippets of their content in its search results. Those orders came after complaints from publishers that Google was sidestepping France’s implementation of a new European Union copyright directive.
Google has since reached paid deals with some French news publishers, such as Le Monde and Le Figaro, but not with others.
“We are very disappointed with this decision,” a Google spokeswoman said. “We have acted in good faith throughout the entire process. The fine ignores our efforts to reach an agreement, and the reality of how news works on our platforms.”
More to follow.
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