CA decision of 15.03.2024

Google condemned by the French Competition Authority 15.03.2024

Neighboring rights of publishers and press agencies – The Autorité́ de la concurrence sanctions Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google Ireland Limited and Google France to the tune of 250 million euros, for failing to complý with the commitments made mandatory by its decision of June 21, 2022 – Décis. 24-D-03 of March 15, 2024.

The French Competition Authority has fined Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google Ireland Limited and Google France a total of €250 million for failing to comply with the commitments made mandatory by its decision of June 21, 2022. These commitments concerned Google’s application of the law of July 24, 2019 aimed at creating a neighboring right for press agencies and publishers. The French Competition Authority criticizes Google for failing to comply with its obligation to negotiate in good faith, on the basis of transparent, objective and non-discriminatory criteria, and for failing to provide the information necessary for a transparent assessment of neighboring rights. According to the French Competition Authority Google underestimated the indirect revenues resulting from the attractivenesś brought to Google’s services by the display of protected press content. It considers that Google has excluded any form of remuneration for the display of press article titles in violation of its previous decisions and the case law of the Court of Appeal. In addition, the Autorité́ notes several other breaches by Google following the launch of its Bard artificial intelligence service, now called́ Gemini. Google trained its AI on press publications without informing rights holders and without allowing them to exercise their opt-out rights. The question of whether the use of press publications as part of an artificial intelligence service falls within the scope of protection under neighboring rights regulations has not yet been decided. Nevertheless, the Autorité considers that by failing to inform publishers of the use of their content for their AI, Google has breached its commitments.