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France Says Google Broke Orders On Talks With Local News Publishers

By  |  February 23, 2021

French antitrust investigators have accused Alphabet’s Google of failing to comply with the state competition authority’s orders on how to conduct negotiations with news publishers over copyright, reported Reuters.

In the 93-page report, known as a statement of objections, the investigators wrote that Google’s failure to comply was of an exceptionally serious nature, the sources said.

This comes amid complaints by French news publishers that Google failed to hold talks with them in good faith to find an agreement. The same publishers were not part of the US$76 million three-year deal signed between the US firm and a group of 121 publications, as Reuters reported earlier this month.

The agreement was presented as a major step forward by both Google and the publishers who signed it, but left many publications infuriated.

The French competition authority can impose fines of up to 10% of sales on firms it deems in violation of its rules. Google’s annual sales amounted to about US$183 billion in 2020.

The investigative report is a key element in the authority’s sanction process, but it is up to the watchdog’s board, led by Isabelle de Silva, to decide whether to issue a penalty.