Google announced that the company will appeal a 500 million euro fine issued by the French government’s antitrust regulator after it received a huge fine for allegedly ignoring the ban on news publications in the country. Google was initially accused of failing to comply with the so-called neighboring law in France. This is a protocol system where online newspaper publishers get paid for using Google News articles.
However, according to reports, Google ignored the ruling of the French anti-competitive regulator Autorite de la concurrence. Therefore, in July 2021, the government fined the company US$592 million and gave it two months to pay. According to Le Monde, Google has announced that it will appeal the fine.
We disagree with certain legal elements and believe that the amount of fines is not commensurate with our efforts, said Sebastien Missoffe, Google’s French chief executive officer, in a statement seen by a French publication. We recognize the neighboring law’ and are still committed to signing the agreement in France. We have extended our offer to more than 1,200 news publishers, modified certain aspects of the contract, and shared the data required of us to comply with The decision of Autorite de la concurrence.
In July 2021, Isabelle de Silva, Chairman of Autorite de la concurrence, said that the 500 million euro fine was the highest ever. In order to want to show the seriousness of the violation.
