France's antitrust watchdog pays Google Rs. 3,500 crore fine

Paris, 19

Technology giant Google has been fined 200 million euros (approximately Rs 3,500 crore or ૫૯૩ 4 million) by France. Google has been fined for failing to negotiate compensation for displaying articles from local news agencies on its platform. The company has been convicted of copyright infringement, which has resulted in a fine of િયન 500 million, the largest fine ever imposed on Google. French antitrust watchdog Alphabet & Co. has accused Google of temporarily disobeying orders.

The French authorities said on Tuesday that Alphabet Inc. Its Google News Service ignored the 2020 order to pay compensation for displaying articles by local news agencies. This is the second largest fine imposed on a single company by antitrust in France. France's anti-trust watchdog has given Google two months to pay the fine. The company will have to submit a proposal within two months stating how it will compensate news agencies and other publishers for the use of their news content. If Google does not submit such a proposal, it will have to pay an additional fine of ૦૦ 200,000 on a daily basis.

According to a report, Google has been fined the largest amount by any competition authority. A Google spokeswoman called the ruling "very sad." "We acted with good intentions and we were negotiating," he said. It is not appropriate to impose a fine. France's major news publishers, APIG, SEPM and AFP, on the other hand, have accused Google of failing to negotiate a solution. News publishers have also criticized Google in this regard. Google has been facing court cases in many countries in recent times.

France is not alone in demanding compensation for the use of content by local news agencies and publishers. Earlier this year, Australia asked digital companies such as Facebook and Google to pay compensation for displaying news from local news agencies. The world's largest tech company is becoming a target for regulators around the world due to its advertising, apps and search business. In Russia, Google has expressed a desire to settle an out-of-court case. The court ordered Google to unblock the YouTube account of a TV channel backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. There has been a long-running feud between Google and newspaper owners and wire services.

European publishers have been pushing regulators to cut Google's powers for decades. Local publishers claim that the use of their content draws billions of dollars from Google advertising. The search engine company agreed last month to pay a 30 million fine for settling its investigation into the power of online advertising, and the company was fined િયન 120 million in 2016 for case-focusing on its Google Ad platform.