Google fined €250m by French competition watchdog
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news : The French competition regulator has fined Google for breaching agreements on remuneration for media outlets for reproducing their online content.
The numbers: The Autorité de la concurrence (ADLC), fined Google €250 million ($415.58 million) for the failure, having previously hit the tech giant with a €500 million penalty for prior offences.
The context: The watchdog said that Google has breached its obligation to comply with commitments made in June 2022, which include building fair agreements with media outlets for publishing links to their content, such as using the outlets’ press articles to train AI technology without informing them.
The ADLC continued that Google trained its AI chatbot, Bard (now named Gemini) on press content without providing publishers nor the regulator with the required notification.
In a blog post responding to the fine, Google said that it considers the amount to be “disproportionate in view of the breaches noted by the ADLC. 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.”
The sources: French competition regulator statement, Google Blog post, Le Monde
