France's competition regulator fined Google $272 million in a long-standing disagreement over payments to French news publishers.
The French Competition Authority imposed a 250 million euro ($272 million) fine on Google because it did not fulfill certain promises made during negotiations.
The conflict is part of a broader initiative by authorities in the European Union and globally to make Google and other technology companies compensate news publishers for their content.
After a court upheld a 2020 ruling that required payments under a 2019 European Union copyright law, the American tech company had to engage in negotiations with French publishers.
Google stated in a blog post that it agreed to settle the fine, which was imposed for its conduct during negotiations, because it believes it's time to move forward. It argued that the fine does not fairly consider its efforts to address and resolve the concerns highlighted by the French regulator.
France was the first of the EU's 27 nations to embrace the copyright directive, which provides a framework for publishers and news organizations to reach licensing agreements with online platforms.
The decision by the French Competition Authority on Wednesday marks the fourth time in the past four years that Google has been penalized for failing to adhere to the EU legal framework aimed at establishing equitable negotiation conditions between news agencies, publishers, and digital platforms.
In April 2020, the French antitrust agency issued temporary orders to Google to hold discussions with news publishers within three months. In 2021, the agency fined Google 500 million euros ($592 million) for not negotiating a fair payment for publishers' news.
