It was a long battle, with millionaire sanctions between them and negotiations lasting over three years. Finally, Google agreed to pay French media for content which it distributes on its search engines, after three years of negotiations and being fined 500 million euros in July 2021 for violating neighboring rights law in France.

The French competition authority said in a statement that the agreement reached with the US multinational company covers the next five years, with the possibility of an extension for another five years. “The government believes that the commitments proposed by Google are enough to put an end to competition issues is expressed and has a significant, reliable and verifiable nature,” the body said in its opinion.

Google is covered by a European directive passed by France in 2019, the first country in the EU, to oblige internet platforms to reward content-creating media as related rights.

500 million fine

The Alliance of Press of General Interest (APIG), an organization that brings together editors of French newspapers, the Syndicate of French Magazine Editors (SEPM) and news agency AFP, has notified authorities that Google is not complying. In July 2021, a US multinational corporation was fined $500 million for failing to negotiate compensation with the media for content in good faith.

Competition Authority President Benoît Queré welcomed the agreement reached with the Silicon Valley giant and said the “various means of action” launched before Google served to “provide context and fair assurance for publishers and press agencies.”

In addition to Google, Facebook and the General Interest Press Alliance have reached an agreement in France to pay related rights to newspapers and set up Facebook News in the country.